Behind the Mask
by FrankandJoe3
Summary: In the search to discover who Robin really is, a familiar enemy resurfaces. Some Megan/Superboy and some family love, but no true fan pairings. Rated T
1. Chapter 1

**Haven't you ever wondered what would all go down if the team attempted to figure out who Robin was beneath that damn mask of his? I know I have, so I'm writing this to cork my curiosity. So, no fan pairings, just team-like love and such. You know, looking out for each other, hugs… but think of it this way: Robin's the baby of the team. When a baby gets upset, don't you always want to make it feel better? Yeah, that's what I thought… **

Being superheroes wasn't an easy job. Whenever duty called, it meant stopping whatever you were doing, no matter how important, to save the day. It was an awesome job though. Being a superhero meant that everyone knew your superhero name and looked up to you and called on you for help. It had its downsides too though. Actually, there were more downsides then anything else, but the biggest downside came about when no one needed help: boredom.

The biggest downside was scattered around the team of sidekicks and Superboy like a pandemic, drowning them in boredom, up to their ears. Megan had taken to the kitchen to bake who knows what; Wally was lying upside down on the couch, his feet over the edge, his eyes glued on the television; Kalder was watching the television too, but he wasn't really paying attention; Superboy was out of sight as usual, probably sitting in his dark room and glooming.

But where was the youngest of them all, the thirteen year old who should've been the bordest of them all? Robin was nowhere to be seen, same as Superboy, which was very unusual. Robin wasn't very often one who just dropped off the radar. He did tend to disappear, but he'd usually appear not long after with an explanation. But for now, the youngest remained hidden, trapped forever in his permanent game of hide and seek. That was a game Robin would always be champion at.

"Come on," Wally complained, his red hair hanging in his face. "Can't some bad guy out there go rob a bank or something?"

Kalder shot him a glance before turning his gaze back to the TV.

"Because it's never that easy," he told the upside-down boy across the room.

"It is in the movies!" the red head complained.

"Yeah; movies. Most movies are fictional, not real," Kalder reminded him.

Wally sighed furiously, taking the remote in his hands. He began to flip through the channels.

"_Welcome to, KMBC News at-."_

"_Who lives in a pineapple under the-."_

"_Hey, it's Franklin."_

"_Cuz he's a- Tough Puppy-."_

"_Doo-Doo Da-Dora. Doo-Doo Da Dora."_

"Come on! Isn't anything on?" he complained, continuing to thumb through the channels.

Mystery Diagnosis; Hannah Montana; True Grit; NCIS; CSI… He had seen them all before. Then he saw a title he liked. He turned on Step Brothers. He came in on a wrong scene. Sighs and moans came from the television speakers. Jumping with surprise, Wally blushed. Kalder quickly got up and left the room. Wally quickly changed the channel again.

"_For every day we live, we face: 1000 Ways to Die."_

Wally smiled and turned himself back up right. This was a good show if any. It may have been violent, but it was educational. It taught him not to snort fire ants, not to try to have sex with a chick in a giant helium filled basketball, not to lick the butt of the poisonous dart frog and not to get drunk in a place full of super sharp cactuses. He turned sideway on the couch, his head resting on the pillow so he could see the TV.

"Hello, thank you for inviting me," the man on the TV said in perfect Korean.

Wally smiled. He loved this one.

"Kim was a stubborn and very traditional Korean-American father, who believed no one was good enough for his daughter…" the spokesperson began the story.

His eyes stayed glued to the TV. He hated having to read the subtitles, but it was always worth it for the final death scene. He laughed as he watched the boy on the TV struggle to eat the live prawn. He thought that it actually looked pretty appetizing, compared to the sea slug and the octopus that would be served seconds later. Wally was so sucked in to the TV that he didn't notice Robin walk up behind him, resting on the back of the couch, just as they showed Kim eat the octopus. Robin winced as he saw the octopus, live mind you, fight to get out of the man's throat.

Wally on the other hand laughed at seeing that. He had tasted raw squid before at a Chinese restaurant and he knew it didn't taste half bad. It was sweet and spicy and definitely felt weird. He wasn't laughing because of that though. He was just laughing because most of the people who die on 1000 Ways to Die usually deserve it from the scenario that the show gives to each death.

"That's… different," Robin muttered, setting a hand on the back of his neck unconsciously.

Wally laughed. "Yeah, it is."

Then he realized that it was Robin. He jumped and turned around to face the Boy Wonder, just as that death scene ended and began to start the next one.

"Hey Rob," he said, surprised.

Robin's face went red as he watched the TV screen.

"Um… what's this rated?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"PG-13, why?" Wally didn't hear the TV, apparently.

Robin pointed. The girl on the screen looked like she was enjoying herself. Wally's face reddened again and he quickly turned the TV off.

"O-Oh well, there was nothing on anyway," he muttered more to himself.

Robin smiled, pushing his sunglasses higher over his eyes.

"Where were you?" the red head asked the thirteen year old, curiously.

Robin shrugged.

"Talking to Batman," he replied, slipping his hands in his hoodie pockets.

"What were you guys talking about?" the Kid Flash pried.

Robin grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Wally nodded. "Yes, I would like to know."

Robin shook his head slowly, rolling his eyes.

"If I told you, I'd literally have to kill you. Sorry about that."

Wally sighed and turned the TV back on to 1000 Ways to Die, but just for the sound. He turned back around to face the TV. Robin didn't move.

"You bored too?" he asked the red head.

Wally nodded. "Ever so."

Echoing Wally's sigh, Robin took a seat next to the fifteen year old on the couch. They watched one way to die, but it wasn't as amusing as it was before. Boredom could even ruin an amusing show.

"What do you wanna talk about?" Robin asked, the drone in his voice clear as crystal.

Wally shrugged. "I don't really… I wanna go fight someone. I want to stop some bad guys."

Robin nodded. "Yeah, that does sound pretty nice."

He turned away from Wally and turned his attention back to the TV. He didn't really care what was happening. It was on a commercial at the moment so he really didn't care. Wally didn't either. He glanced over at Robin. Then he saw something. From the angle he was at, he could see behind Robin's sunglasses. He could see Robin's eyes. He hated how shadowy it was behind the shades, but he could see them!

He peered at Robin's eyes, curiously. He could see nothing wrong with Robin's eyes. They looked like normal human eyes, not a scratch to them. He had long eyelashes from the looks of it, but his eyes looked normal. That raised a few questions in Wally's mind.

"Hey Robin?" Kid Flash asked the thirteen year old.

The boy didn't look over from his view on the TV. "Hmm?"

"Why are you always wearing something over your eyes?"

Robin fell silent. He frowned, but Wally recognized it as Robin's thinking face. Pushing his shades up higher on his face, Robin had the answer.

"Batman said I had to. He said people could figure out who I was because of my eyes," he explained.

"They're just eyes though," Wally told Robin. "There are millions of other eyes just like them."

"No they're not. Eyes are like fingerprints, tongue prints and toe prints; no two are the same," Robin argued, hoping to distract his friend and stray them from the topic.

"No way! There is no way that eyes are different! They're just colors!" Wally shot back.

"No, the colors aren't the same. They have patterns. And the blood vessels in our eyes are different two. That's why there are certain eye scanners used by government agencies in the movies and such," Robin told his friend, proud at himself for knowing that.

Wally folded his arms over his chest.

"Next you're going to tell me that no two names are the same," he fumed.

"They are the same. Names are reused a lot," Robin smiled smugly.

Wally laughed. Didn't it figure? He set his hands on his knees and looked down at his feet, trying to think of something to say. It took him a second. A question popped up into his head.

"Hey Robin, if names_ can _be the same, what's yours?"

But the spot beside Wally on the couch was empty and there was no sign that Robin had sat there seconds before. Wally frowned. He was convinced that Robin had telepathy and he just hid it. He always knew the right time to disappear.

**What do you think? I'm trying really hard to NOT make this a fan pairing story. It's just one big jacked up and non-related family story I suppose… I'll try to update later. Review?**

**-FJ3**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm surprised so many of you liked this story… I really am. I'm not used to getting 40 emails, over 75% of them being for this story! Aiyuh! I do love it though, getting forty emails. Keep it up!**

**Chapter 2:**

Kid Flash leapt to his feet, overjoyed.

"YES! YES!" he screamed happily.

The League had just called, requesting that they leave to stop an enemy who surfaced suddenly and had started attacking a nearby town. They gave the coordinates to Megan who would be flying the ship and told the others to get suited up. It took less then five minutes for every one to get on their suits and to take their seats in the ship. Once they all were on, Megan started up the ship and began to drive.

Robin scooted back in his seat and was the last to buckle his seat belt. It could have something to do with the fact that he was too short to touch the ground with his feet, but either way, he was still the slowest. In his defense, the seats were pretty tall. Wally sat next to him. He knew that if Robin was buckled in, he couldn't run off and he would _have _to answer his questions.

"Hey Robin, you disappeared before I could ask you earlier… What's your real name?" Wally asked the boy beside him.

Robin laughed. "I'm Robin, nice to meet you."

Wally folded his arms over his chest. "No, what's your _real_ name? The one your Mum and Dad gave ya?"

Robin stiffened for a second, but he shook it off.

"Can't tell you."

"Why not? You know my name, you know Aqualad's name, you know Megan's name… I don't think Superboy has a name… We trust you! Do you not trust us?" Wally sounded offended.

Robin felt bad but he shook his head. "No, I do trust you. Batman doesn't."

Wally looked around dramatically.

"I don't see Batman. Do you see him Kal?" Wally asked Aqualad.

Aqualad rolled his eyes. "Leave me out of this."

Robin just smiled, folding his arms over his chest.

"If Batman's not here, he won't find out," Wally tried to convince Robin.

The black haired boy shook his head. "Batman will find out. He has his ways." 

Wally frowned. There had to be someway to get him to tell.

"Well, you said it yourself: names are reused. So, it wouldn't hurt just to tell us your first name…" Wally tried.

Robin thought about that.

"True, but even my first name could be used to figure me out."

Wally was furious.

"How about your middle name then?" he asked, sarcastically.

Robin smiled at his friend's anger.

"Alright; John," he told him.

Wally jumped in surprise.

"What?"

Robin grinned.

"I said my middle name is John."

Wally laughed and did a strange dance in his seat.

"There, one part of your name down!" he cheered.

Megan laughed silently. Kalder grinned, amused. Superboy failed to hide a small smile. Robin pulled on his gloves, pulling them higher up on his arms.

"So, what about your last name?" Wally begged.

Robin shook his head. "Nuh uh!"

"What harm could it do?" the red head pouted.

"I know for a fact that I'm the only Ri-," Robin quickly stopped himself. "I know for a fact that I'm the only one with my name around here."

Wally heard his mess up and grinned.

"So, your name starts with Ri? Let's see… Ricky… Ricardo… Richard… Rico… Riley… Ringo… Ripley…"

Robin folded his arms across his chest, no emotion coming from him. On the outside he looked angry. On the inside, he felt like a deer that was just shot by a hunter. He could run away for a little bit longer, but it wouldn't be long until the hunter caught up to him and finished him. He wanted nothing more then to be finished off at the moment. He was saved though, as Megan's voice echoed through the ship.

"We're here," she called.

The ship touched down and she opened the doors and invited them to leave. Robin happily accepted. He tore out of his seat and practically leapt out the door towards the enemy. The others followed.

"Uh… not to sound stupid… but where's the bad guy?" the Kid Flash asked, looking around.

All he saw was an old fashioned circus tent ahead of him.

"I'm guessing he's in there," Superboy muttered, heading towards it.

Kalder nodded and walked with him. Megan flew after them. Wally was about to speed after them until he saw Robin. Robin looked like a store mannequin almost. He stood there, pale and stiff.

"Uh, Rob, time to go kick some ass?" he reminded his friend.

Robin jumped hearing his friend's voice.

"Huh- oh yeah, coming," he muttered, running towards the circus tent.

The nephew of the Flash shook his head and sighed.

"What a bipolar monkey," he said to himself, before dashing after the team.

Once inside the red and white tent, everyone stopped in surprise. It was an average circus tent. Well, that's what the rest of the team. Robin knew better. He could tell the differences. It was their enemy that stopped everyone. It was a… well, to put it simply; it was a very big circus clown. His skin was white and powdery, he had a large red nose, he had an even larger red afro, he had circles around his eyes and lipstick around his mouth, striped pants that were two times bigger than he needed and a puffy shirt that matched his pants.

Robin acted fast. He charged forward only to veer sharply to the right and through a small sphere at the ground by the clown's feet. It exploded, but it mostly just gave him the cover he needed to disappear. Superboy did what he knew how and charged forward, landing solid punches against the clown's ankles. It looked painful, but the clown didn't react.

"He doesn't seem to be doing anything bad… why are we fighting him?" Kalder asked Megan.

She had her eyes closed tightly. She shook her head softly.

"Nothing… I'm getting nothing. It's like he's a robot," she told him.

"He's. Not. A. Robot!" Superboy told her, between each punch.

"Why would the League tell us to stop a giant, harmless clown?" Kalder was confused.

A male scream tore through the air.

"He's not harmless!" Wally cried.

They all looked up. The clown had grabbed the Kid Flash by his feet and was holding him close to his mouth.

"Food…" the clown said slowly in a super deep voice.

It caused Wally to squirm and scream more.

"No! Not food! Not food! Help!"

Megan started to fly up to save him, but the clown smashed her away. Wally let out a war cry.

"No!" he cried as he watched her fly backwards and crash into the tent wall.

Superboy's punches got stronger in anger. Kalder pulled out the two tubes from his back. They turned bright blue in response. Water shot from them at the clown's arms, but the clown didn't seem to mind. He just simply extended his foot, sending Superboy and Kalder both flying.

"Crap! Robin!" Wally cried out, desperate.

He tried to spin around; he tried running, kicking and even biting the clown. Nothing was going to free him. The clown opened his mouth and slowly lifted Wally up. Panic flew to his throat.

"I'm going to be eaten by a clown!" he moaned.

"Not if I can help it!" Robin cried.

He flew across the circus tent, his knees bent around the trapeze bar. He flew forward, determination in his eyes. Wally was surprised to see Robin on the trapeze, but he was more relieved then anything else. Robin soared forward, tightly grabbed Wally's forearms with his hands and yanked him from the clown's grip.

"Hold on," Robin ordered with a snap to his voice.

Wally didn't hesitate. He tightly held Robin's wrists, closing his eyes tightly. Robin swung his legs backwards, causing them to retreat back past the clown.

"Robin, the clown!" Wally noticed.

Robin nodded.

"Can't swing you to the other side unless there's someone else on the bar. That's why you never see trapezists performing alone," Robin said, gaining momentum.

He got to the platform and dropped the Kid Flash onto it, quickly flipping off the bar, landing beside him. The bar flew forward, as if by magic. Everyone was watching Robin, surprised. Robin really didn't like the attention.

"Come on people, we have a giant cannibal clown to stop!" Robin reminded them, rubbing his sore wrists.

He wished he would've known that he would be riding the trapeze. If he did, he would've put some bandages around his forearms. But he didn't know and now they hurt. Shrugging, Robin reached for his Grappling Hook. He backed up.

"Good luck," he told Wally, before running forward and firing off his grappling hook, landing on the clown's hand, only to jump back off of it for speed.

The others, still surprised, snapped out of it, got to their feet and charged the clown.

**Okay, so we have introduced his middle name and 'Ri' the first two letters in his first name. We've revealed he knows a little bit about the circus tents and he knows how to use the trapeze. Such fun (: **

**-FJ3**


	3. Chapter 3

**I just drew a picture of Robin where he's there, all smiley and buff, and behind him is a circus tent. Beneath it I put 'The Last Flying Grayson'. It looks pretty good. I plan to draw one of him hugging his knees, looking into the sky, a feint outline of his parents there, and have him thinking: **_**Why'd you leave me? **_**True, it'd be depressing, but Imma go for it! **

**I'm so glad you all like this. If you have any requests, like 'have them visit a Chinese place' or 'walk in on a bikini model show' or etc, please tell me because I want to make this story dark, deep and very delightful and humorous all at the same time. If you, for some reason, want them to go off into another fight and battle some strange creature like a man made of ice cream, I'm open to that to. Enough rambling! TIME TO UPDATE!**

**Chapter 3:**

Robin walked through the doors, clearly annoyed.

"Come on! Tell me!" Wally begged, walking behind him.

"No," Robin said in a drone, trying to speed up.

"Gimme a hint! Is Batman really a Ring Master? Did he teach you?" Wally pressed on.

If Robin was an anime character, he was sure that his face would be dark red and steam would be coming from his ears like a train.

"No," he said again, walking just a bit faster.

Wally got in front of him, taking off his own mask and throwing it onto the sofa.

"Please!" he begged again.

Anger continued to build up in Robin like a pressure plate. Any more pressure and he'd explode. He pushed past Wally and continued walking down the hall to his room.

"Were you in the circus when you were younger?" the red continued, desperate to know.

Robin clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he kept walking. 

"No," he said one last time, taking a deep breath.

He had stopped listening to Wally's questions five minutes ago out of anger. He just wished his friend would take the hint. Robin yanked off his gloves and held them tightly in one of his hands.

"Robin!" Wally cried, angry. "Tell me!"

Robin whirled around.

"NO! For the last freakin' time! NO! NO! NO!" he screamed, practically exploding.

Wally stiffened in surprise. Robin guessed that he had gotten the idea. While Wally was frozen, Robin tore down the hallway to his room and shut his door gently behind him, denying the urge to slam it with all of his strength. Once Robin was inside his room, he searched frantically for something that he really needed at the moment. He just wished he could remember where he had hidden it.

XxXxX

Wally dropped onto the couch beside his mask angrily. He folded his arms over his chest.

"Stupid… mask wearing… circus freak," he muttered under his breath.

"You shouldn't be mad at him you know," Megan's voice said gently. "He did save your life."

Wally straightened up almost instantly.

"Yeah, but that's what heroes do. He didn't have to yell at me," he told her, trying to mask his anger.

She sat down next to him, gently brushing her red hair from her face.

"He did get kicked by that clown pretty hard. Maybe it was just his pain talking for him?" Megan suggested.

Wally shook his head, bringing his knees up beside him on the couch.

"Robin doesn't let his pain talk. Robin controls his pain and usually doesn't show it," he explained, feeling even more confused.

Megan shrugged.

"Well, maybe you just made him mad."

A silence fell over the two. Wally _really_ hated silences.

"Have you ever wondered who Robin really is?" he asked her, glancing shyly over at her.

Megan nodded, her hair rustling.

"Ever since you told me that Batman wouldn't let him tell us his real name," she smiled.

Wally felt a soft smile spread across his own lips.

"So, do you want to help me figure out who the Boy Wonder _really_ is?" he asked.

Megan nodded. Wally stood to his feet.

"Alright, first things first, we need to see everything we know of him," he decided.

Megan shook her head.

"No, first we get everyone else on this team to help us. I believe in teamwork," she insisted.

Wally shrugged. "The more the merrier!"

The two of them both walked off in the direction of Superboy's room first. He'd be the hardest to get to agree.

XxXxX

Robin felt half of the weight on his shoulders fade as Batman's face flickered through his communicator.

"Robin, is something wrong?" Batman asked, his voice still deep and gravelly as usual.

When he spoke with Robin, his voice had a lighter tone to it, but it was always deep and gravelly. Robin hesitated.

"Possibly."

Batman nodded. "I'm listening."

"Are you alone?" Robin asked quickly.

Batman looked around and nodded.

"Alright… today, we were sent to fight this huge giant clown thing," he began.

"I remember, get on with it."

Robin was used to Batman's impatience. It didn't bother him.

"Well, it tried to eat Wally- er, Kid Flash so I… I kind of got on the trapeze, rode it and saved him," Robin continued.

Batman took a deep breath and nodded.

"You rode on the trapeze again. Do you not remember me telling you specifically **not** to get on them again?" his voice had a snap to it.

Robin winced, but he nodded.

"I do remember you telling me that. It's just… I had to save Kid Flash and the others had been knocked out. The only chance I had at saving him was getting on the trapeze," Robin explained.

Batman's expression lightened.

"I see. So what's the emergency?"

"Well, I… I kinda let out that I knew a bit about the trapeze, I managed to get Wa- Kid Flash back to the platform and I managed to slide off the bar just like I was taught… They were all shocked and Kid Flash kept asking about it the whole ride home…"

"You didn't tell him anything, did you?" Batman asked quickly.

Robin shook his head. "I told him nothing."

Batman could sense a lie behind his words, but just the faintest of one.

"What did you tell him?" he asked.

Robin's eyes widened.

"I didn't," he insisted.

Batman glared at him.

"No lies from you can get past me. You called me and I want to know what the hell you told him!"

Robin didn't like the anger in Batman's voice. He had become used to it, but it still scared him.

"Alright… all day he was pestering me about what my name was and I-."

"You didn't tell him your name did you?" Batman growled at him.

Robin jumped and dropped his holographic communicator to the ground.

"N-No! I-I didn't! I just gave him my middle name! That's it! I swear!" Robin claimed, picking up the communicator.

From the sound of it, Batman hit something hard. Robin winced again and closed his eyes up tight.

"Damnit Robin! There can't be many black haired boys who look like you with the middle name _John_," he said Robin's middle name softly, but it didn't stop the murder in his voice. "Do you want them all to know who you really are? Do you want them to know your mistakes?"

Robin kept his eyes closed.

"N-No… I swear I didn't mean to… I just… I thought it wouldn't be any harm!" Robin insisted.

A loud knock came from Robin's door.

"Hey Robin, are you alright?" Kalder's voice sounded.

"I…" Robin cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" his friend called, worried.

"I'm fine," Robin insisted, hoping he'd take the hint.

Kalder must've for he didn't say anything else. Robin sighed, shaking slightly.

"Is that all?" Batman asked him.

Robin nodded, unable to find his voice.

"If you need to talk, just remember, I'm always here," Batman assured him, almost forgetting how he had yelled at Robin only moments before.

Robin nodded and shut the communicator off, hiding it beneath his bed again. He didn't have the mental strength to get up off the floor. So he didn't. Robin just lay down, curled up in a ball, closed his eyes and sort of fell asleep.

XxXxX

"He's in his room. It sounds like he's talking to Batman again, so I think he'll be in there for a while," Kalder assured everyone in the room.

Wally nodded. "Alright. So, what all do we know about Robin?" he asked everyone, once Kalder shut the door.

"His middle name is John?" Superboy offered.

Wally wrote that down. "And the first two letters of his first name are 'R and I', pronounced Rih."

"He knows how to use a trapeze very well," Kalder noted.

"And he froze in surprise when he saw the circus tent," Wally added.

"Hey Megan!" Megan teased. "He was probably in the circus!"

Everyone in the room turned to her.

"Well, he was afraid to see the circus tent, so maybe he was in the circus before he became a side kick? It's obvious that it's personal to him. He seemed to know his way around the circus tent," Megan explained.

Wally grinned.

"Beautiful and smart; that's a nice combination," he muttered under his breath, writing that down.

"Anything else?" he asked, looking around.

"He trained under Batman and knows how to disappear," Kalder stated the obvious.

"He's like Batman's twin," Superboy decided.

Now it was his turn to get all the glances.

"They both act all high and mighty. They watch out for each other. They both disappear and not tell the other. They think alike. No one knows who they are and what they really look like. They could be father and son and I wouldn't be surprised," Superboy stated, folding his arms over his chest.

It was true, everything they knew. It was just like trying to make a puzzle with half of the puzzle pieces missing. You can't complete it, even if you attempt to draw in the other puzzle pieces. You can't complete the puzzle unless you have all of the pieces and from the looks of it, Robin was a 1000 piece puzzle, 800 pieces short and all 800 of the missing pieces were distant and far away. They were too far away to gather on their own. The only way to get the pieces would be to ask the puzzle maker for them, but Robin wouldn't help. Robin hated puzzles.

**I just realized that I like similes and metaphors. Simile looks like Smiley, just smelt funny. Er, spelt funny. Sorry about the OOC fight… Meh… Any ideas of what should happen next?**

**-FJ3**


	4. Chapter 4

**I've been told that I've been spelling Kaldur wrong and I'm super sorry for that. I didn't know, honest. I know that I'm not well known, and I know that my stories aren't the best, but I plan, one day, to have over 500 stories, or at least get 100 reviews on one story. That's been my dream for ages. Maybe this might be what I need. So far, it seems like if I write 10+ chapters, I can achieve that. Thank you guys for reading! **

**I read another story like this one, [you know, same plot where they wanna know who Robin really is] and it has over 100 reviews for five chapters and it's written horribly. The person indents horribly, they spell things wrong and they have the characters all jacked up. How is it that I work my ass off to make my stories readable and neat and I only get a few reviews while people who write crappy stories get millions of reviews? *depression* CYMBALTA CAN'T HELP!**

**Chapter 4:**

Wally frowned at the computer screen, not happy with what it said. He was reading the League's information on Robin. They had to provide one, just in case. They had very little information on the kid. It just stated almost everything they knew.

**Name: Robin**

**Real Name: _**

**Age: 13**

**Mentor: Batman**

**Hair Color: Black**

**Eyes: _**

**Race: Caucasian **

**Power: None**

**Specialty: Technology Expert, Trained Well in Hand-to-Hand Combat, Thinks Fast**

**Height: 5'4"**

**Weight: 110 lbs.**

**Hometown: Gotham City**

**Parents: _**

**Siblings: None**

The League were supposed to be geniuses. They didn't know who his parents were, what color his eyes were and what his real name was. Batman should've filled those out, but he didn't. Wally looked over the screen again, hoping the words would magically pop up. The words didn't put a small green Robin face did. Wally nearly jumped out of his skin. Then another Robin face popped up, one taken to the left corner of the screen and one to the right. Then two more popped up, forming a green square popped up.

_You aren't allowed to read this page because you're not awesome enough. HA SUCKERS_ faded onto the screen in flashing red strobe.

Wally laughed. That sounded like something Robin would do. He couldn't change the URL of the page though, so he just left his computer and walked off, to the one in the room at the end of the hallway. That room was a Misc. room, full of computers, weight lifting equipment, darts and so forth. The computer was already on so he just double clicked on the shortcut to the internet. He watched as the screen was directed straight to Google. He typed in the search bar: 'Names of Gotham City Trapezists.' He frowned as the computer told him that 'Trapezists' wasn't a word, but he ignored it and opened up the first link option they gave him. He wished that they had been trying to figure out someone else and that Robin was helping. This was right down Robin's alley and he could've found it out in seconds.

XxXxX

Megan sat down at the 'kitchen' table, supporting her head with a gentle green hand. Her red bangs hung in her eyes, but she really didn't care. She had a piece of notebook paper in front of her and a pen, but she couldn't think of anything to write. Kaldur walked into the room and opened the silver refrigerator. He looked at the inside, up and down, saw nothing of interest and closed it. He opened the fridge now and looked it up and down. Once again, nothing caught his interest. With a sigh, he opened the refrigerator again, hoping some good food had magically appeared. None had.

He shut the refrigerator and looked over at Megan at the table. He noticed that she didn't look all too happy, which wasn't like her. Megan was usually happy, even when she was upset. But there was something different about her mood today. It felt more like guilt then sorrow somehow. Kaldur walked over the table, pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. He turned his attention to her.

"Hey, is something wrong?" he asked her.

Megan shrugged.

"I… I don't know. I wanted to go out today, you know, and just have a night out for all of us… The League doesn't want us to go though," she told him, picking up her pen and doodling a rose on the edge of her notebook paper.

"Why not?" Kaldur asked, his eyes on the rose Megan was drawing.

He loved the idea of the team going out to just hang out and be kids for a day. It'd be good for team bonding and it'd probably get Robin's mind away from the shadows they had been in recently.

"Well, they said that there's always the chance someone will attack and they need us here just in case," Megan explained, obviously bothered.

Kaldur frowned.

"Want me to go talk to them, to see if I can change their minds?" he offered.

Megan shook her head.

"No, if Red Tornado said no to me, he's going to say no to you," she sighed.

She gently drew a broken leaf on her rose's stem.

"I could try to ask someone else," he pointed out.

Megan smiled and brushed her hair from her eyes.

"Or, we always could just go without telling them," Robin's voice projected through the room.

Kaldur and Megan looked up, surprised. The Boy Wonder stood in the kitchen doorway, dressed in a dark green hoodie, dark jeans and a pair of his favorite shades. He had a smile on his lips and his arms were folded across his chest.

"What if they found out?" Kaldur asked, watching the boy carefully.

"Then tell them that I wanted to have a night out and you guys were just coming with me to protect me. Or we could say we were protecting the town from the baddies while enjoying ourselves," he replied simply, obviously amused.

"You'd do that for us?" Megan asked him, surprised.

Robin nodded. "Yeah, why not? Besides, I know this perfect place down in Gotham City that my folks used to take me to all the time. It's a nice little pizza place with round tables and umbrellas and such. Across the street is a movie theatre that has the _best_ popcorn and then down the street from that, there's a bowling alley."

Megan smiled. "We should go there! It sounds amazing!"

Kaldur nodded. "Sounds like a lot of fun."

Robin just smirked.

"We'll have to drive there on motorcycles, but it's worth the drive. I could lead you guys," he offered.

Kaldur glanced at Megan, to see what she thought. She had a big grin on her face so he nodded.

"Alright, sounds good."

Robin straightened up and dropped his arms to his side.

"You guys go get your best civvies on and I'll go get Superboy and Wally. Meet me in the garage in ten minutes."

The original two occupants of the kitchen nodded and got up from the table. Robin walked off in the direction of Wally's room. Kaldur headed towards his own room, running a hand over his blonde hair slowly. He was excited, that's for sure. Megan scribbled a note on the notebook sheet of paper, in case the League came by. She doubted they would, but she did anyway.

_**Going out for pizza, movies and bowling. We should be home by midnight. If you need us, try us on our communicators. Sorry!**_

_**-Miss Martian**_

She dotted the eyes with small planets just to be creative. Then, she dashed off to her room to find a cute dress to wear that wouldn't stain from eating pizza. Robin knocked on Wally's door.

"Hey, KF, dress fancy! We're going out for movies and food," Robin called.

He got no response. Confused, Robin knocked again, louder this time.

"Hey, Wally! You there?"

Once again, the room was silent. Robin closed his eyes and sighed. He attempted to open the door by turning the knob, but his door was locked. Robin tried again just to make sure it was locked. Once he was satisfied that it was, he had an idea.

"KF, if you're in here, I'm sorry," he muttered under his breath.

He backed up and charged at the door, turning at the last second so his shoulder slammed into the door. The door flew back from the impact. Robin was so glad that it was just a wooden door, even though it did hurt his shoulder. Robin nudged open the door and looked inside. Wally's computer was on with Robin's trademark access denied message across the screen. Even more confused, Robin walked up to the computer and typed in a few things, overriding his message to see what Wally had been looking at.

He wasn't all too surprised to see that it was his profile from the Justice League's system. He was so glad most of the spaces were empty. It meant they didn't know who he was. That was good. He took another look at a few of them.

"My hair's black?" he thought aloud.

Then he remembered.

"Oh yeah, not natural hair color," he reminded himself.

He laughed at his stupidity and exited from his profile. He knew Wally was curious, but he should've known that the League knew little more than he did. As Robin turned off the computer screen, Robin saw his reflection in the glass. He looked at himself for a few seconds, at first wondering who he was seeing. Then he recognized bits and pieces. He adjusted his hoodie, pushed his shades back up on his nose and messed up his hair so it wasn't so neat. He didn't want to be neat. Tonight, he was going to be Richard John Grayson, not Robin.

He turned to leave the room, only to find himself looking at Wally. The redhead didn't seem all too surprised to see Robin in his room. That didn't surprise Robin either though. Wally was already in some dark jeans and a dark blue jacket with a white shirt underneath. There seemed to be more freckles beneath his eyes, but Robin was sure it was just how it looked in the shadows.

"You ready to go Rob? Come on," Wally teased him, tousling Robin's hair.

His plan had been to annoy Robin by doing that, but Robin didn't seem bothered. He actually smiled softly at that.

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Robin cried, dashing from the room.

Wally laughed and ran after him, normal speed. He was well aware that tonight wasn't a night to be a super hero. Tonight, he was just going to be himself. Within minutes, a loud laugh tore through the place.

"Ha! You're a rotten egg!" Wally yelled, happily.

"No fair! You cheated!" Robin shot back.

Their shouts were drowned by the roar of motorcycle engines. The sound got softer and softer though, as the motorcycles zoomed away, towards Gotham City.

XxXxX

Robin's communicator beeped furiously on his dresser.

"Come on, why isn't he picking up?" Batman asked, worried.

"I'm sure he's just away from the communicator," the real Flash tried to comfort him.

"No, Robin never leaves without it. That's one of the biggest rules I taught him."

Then, the communicator was answered. Batman sighed with relief.

"Robin, what took you so long?" he scolded.

"Hello… Batman," a familiar voice sounded through the communicator.

Batman felt his blood run cold. He knew that voice. He knew that voice well.

"What do you want? Where's Robin?" he snapped angrily.

The voice on the other end of the line laughed loudly. It was a maniacal laugh that sent shivers down Batman's spine. He exchanged looks with the Flash.

"Call Superman and tell him to meet me there," he instructed.

He ran as fast as his normal feet could allow him to the garage where his bat mobile was.

"Where the hell is Robin?" he yelled into the communicator, once the voice stopped laughing.

"I don't know Batman… where is Robin? Maybe he's already joined his Mummy and Daddy dearest," the voice taunted.

Batman felt a growl rise in his throat and he felt his foot slam down on the accelerator of the bat mobile, forgetting all common sense.

_I'm coming Robin…_ he thought to himself angrily. _Don't worry!_

**Yes, I know you know that Robin's okay, but Batman doesn't. Who do you guys think the mysterious voice is? Yes, I'm going to write about their night out. I have the scene planned (:**


	5. Chapter 5

**You guys are amazing! I'm so glad you guys actually read the shit I post in the beginning! Thank you all for trying to help me reach my dream! Well, my actual real dream is to get a five foot blue gummy bear, but it's the thought that counts! I'm surprised you all thought it was the Joker on the line! I was original going to have it be Tony Zucco, the guy who had Robin's folks killed, broken out of prison, but I like your guy's ideas better. **

**Chapter 5: **

Robin pulled off his helmet and shook his black hair wildly, clearing what could've possibly been helmet hair. Outside, it was getting darker, but he could still see everything around him, still illuminated gently by the setting sun. He set his helmet on top of his motorcycle and turned to the others. They were copying him, almost like funhouse mirror images.

"Alright Rob, you know this place better then we do. Lead the way," Wally gestured for the thirteen year old to point them in the right way.

Robin took a glance at his wrist, where a communicator had been an hour before. His heart leapt to his throat. It wasn't on his wrist. He willed himself to calm down. The others had their communicators. If the League needed them, they could contact the others. Unless it was Batman who was calling. In that case, then not only would Robin get his ass royally kicked, but he'd probably have to face one of Batman's temper tantrums. He ignored it though.

"Come on, it's right up here," Robin smiled at them.

His stomach bubbled and fluttered with excitement as his converse sneakers moved over the old and weathered pavement, a spring to his step. It was nice to see Robin happy like this. The last time they had seen him this giggly was when he got to watch the Black Canary beat the crap out of Superboy and Wally. That was always amusing to him. Not the whole watching your friend get hurt part, but the part about them being beaten by a woman who from first glance looks like she could barely harm a fly.

The building Robin led them to first definitely was one that had probably seen better days. It was a simple, one story, old fashioned, brick building, the sign on top made of red wooden letters: Smithy's Pizza. It was a simple building that had a powerful effect on anyone who walked past. Robin pushed open the metal doors, causing a small bell to ring. The second the five entered the building, they were hit with a wave of what could only be described as comfortableness.

The smell of well cooked pizza and the heat from the ovens absorbed everyone, causing different reactions from each. Superboy actually smiled in surprise. Megan blinked quickly a few times, her smile widening. Kaldur actually laughed a nice welcoming chuckle. Wally's eyes closed as he inhaled the scent of freshly cooked pizza.

"Whatever that is that I smell, I want it," he said, his voice slurred.

Robin laughed at that as he walked up to the brown stone counters, striding across the tiled floors. A pretty woman with her blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail. She had pale green eyes and a sea of freckles across her super tan cheeks.

"Hey Maria, is Kenny in?" Robin asked the girl, folding his arms gently on the counter.

The woman smiled as she recognized him.

"Eez zat you? Oh, eet eez! I meesed you leetle von!" the girl said with a heavy accent.

She tousled Robin's hair gently.

"It's nice to see you too," he laughed. "Is Kenny here?"

Maria nodded. "Yes, he eez een ze back. You like to talk to heem?"

Robin nodded. "Yeah, I would."

Maria nodded and dashed off into a door marked 'Employees Only'.

"Kenny! He eez here!" Robin could faintly hear Maria cry out, excited.

"Who's the hottie?" Wally asked, trying to see her through the door.

Robin rolled his eyes. "Her name is Maria. She's the owner's daughter and she used to babysit me all the time when I was younger."

Wally grinned.

"Mm," he muttered.

Superboy elbowed him roughly. Wally winced.

"Ow!" he complained, clutching his shoulder. "What was that for?"

Megan had to hide a giggle.

"Behave yourself. We're in public," Superboy told him, in a loud whisper.

"This is what I do in public!" Wally argued, rubbing his shoulder gently.

Before Superboy could argue or smack him again, the door opened. An old man walked out. He had longish white hair, a beard and a naturally happy expression. He was pale in comparison to his daughter. He walked up to Robin and looked him over.

"You're Mary and John's kid?" he asked, doubtfully.

Robin nodded and lowered his sunglasses, revealing his eyes only to Maria and the old man. The man laughed.

"Yes, you're definitely their child. I haven't seen eyes like that in…" his voice trailed off in thought.

"Four years," Robin finished, trying not to sound depressed at the sudden memory.

The man nodded. "Oh yes, I remember. I'm sorry about your-."

"It's okay," Robin cut him off quickly.

"Are these your friends?" the old man asked, surveying the other four kids.

Megan had changed her appearance so her skin looked pale so she looked fine to the old man's eyes. He saw nothing different about her, except for the fact that she was the only girl with all of these boys. Robin nodded, pushing his shades back up on his face. He turned around and faced them.

"This is Wally, Megan, Kaldur and…" his voice trailed off when he looked at Superboy.

"Just call me Conner," Superboy finished him.

The old man smiled. "It's nice to meet you. I'm-."

"This is Kenny, the owner of this place," Robin introduced him.

The old man laughed. "Yes, I'm Kenny."

"Then why's this place called 'Smithy's'?" Kaldur asked, curiously.

"It's just an old name I picked up in high school," Kenny explained, turning around to pull a pizza from the oven.

"Is Maria _really_ your daughter?" Wally asked.

Kenny laughed, setting the pizza delicately into a box.

"Yes, she is my daughter. Her mother and I got divorced when she was born so we switch off, but the wife has had more custody over her the past eighteen years of her life. That's why she looks like someone off the cover of Playboy magazine and has that accent of hers," Kenny told him.

Wally smiled. He guessed that Kenny had been asked that a lot before.

"So, Robin, what'll it be today?" Kenny asked the black haired boy, closing the pizza box gently to trap in the warmth.

Robin hesitated. He turned to the others. 

"I recommend you guys order what kinds of pizza you guys like. He can make it all into one giant pizza with all of our different types," Robin said to them.

Wally was first.

"Cowboy pizza! Yee haw!" he cried dramatically, getting a giggle from Maria and some stares from the other customers in the restaurant.

Kenny nodded. "Alright, what about you blondie?"

Kaldur looked over the menu board once. "Uh, meat lovers."

Kenny nodded. "Good choice. What about you two?"

'Conner' and Megan looked over the menu.

"Pineapple," Megan decided at least, pleased with her answer.

Kenny nodded. "Exotic, I like it. Now for you tough guy."

He was looking straight at Superboy. Superboy smiled.

"Uh... pepperoni?" he decided.

"What about you squirt? What do you want?" Kenny asked the youngest of them all.

Robin smiled. "Dazzle me."

Kenny laughed at that. "Alright, you all go find a table. It should be done in ten minutes."

Everyone smiled at his hospitality. A small tide of 'thank yous' came from them as Robin led them to the back porch of the restaurant where a bunch of tables were scattered about.

"He's nice enough," Wally noticed as he pulled back a chair and collapsed at a random table.

Robin nodded. "I think it's just 'cause my… well, he liked my folks a whole lot."

Robin was just praying his happy act held up all night. He didn't want to seem weak in front of his, well, _the_ team.

"Playing favorites?" Wally grinned. "I think we should eat pizza here more often."

XxXxX

The man walked around the house, a strange stagger to his walk. It was a controlled stagger, but it still looked like he was a midget with one barefoot and one foot high platform. His skin, bleached white from the chemical waste 'accident' years ago, gleamed in the darkness of Mount Justice. His lips, dyed bright red, were frozen in the permanent position of laughing and being happy. His hair, still green as ever, gently brushed across his vision, making him think at first that he saw someone running in terror.

The man threw back his head and laughed at the idea. In doing so, more hair came over his eyes and it made it look like the woman had been tackled. When he brought his head back down, it looked like the woman was dead and the killer was walking way happily. He couldn't help but laugh at his hair for playing tricks on his mind. He continued staggering through the 'house', looking for any sign of the sidekicks. He had searched the rooms, the bathroom, the drawers, the toilet, the pockets, the lingerie drawer hidden from sight and even between the couch cushions.

All he had left to search was the kitchen. He walked into it, flipping on the light. The once dark, shadow filled creep zone turned into a bright and empty kitchen that had earlier been occupied by the happy side kicks. The man staggered to the refrigerator and opened it. He looked inside, up and down, but saw nothing delicious. He opened the fridge beside it, looked it up and down, and yet, nothing good to eat. With a sigh, he opened the refrigerator again, grabbed the huge carton of fruit punch and closed the refrigerator door.

Gently opening the fruit punch, the man smelt it, inhaling its sweet and fruity aroma. It was simply wonderful. So he picked up the carton, tilted it back, and poured it all over his face, dripping it down onto his clothes. He didn't care though. He actually laughed, almost choking on the red liquid. Once it all was gone, and all over the floor, the man surveyed the damage. It looked bright red on the carpet, almost like a blood stain. The man laughed harder at seeing this. He looked down at his shirt and saw it too soaked red. It gave him false images in his head that entertained him. Then his eyes fell across the note on the refrigerator. He picked it up and read it, smiling to himself.

"Isn't that sweet?" he asked himself, letting his maniacal laugh echo.

Then, he tore the note into six pieces and gently dropped them into the fruit punch stain. It made him laugh to see the pages get drowned in the red substance. In fact, it gave him an idea. So he staggered back towards the sidekick's rooms again, a brilliant idea in his mind. Just the thought of Batman's expression when he saw what the man had 'done' brought even more laughter to the man's lips.

"Just you wait, Batman!" the Joker called to the imaginary voices in his head. "I've got a surprise for you!"

He let his laugh ring around the empty building again, but he knew he had no time to waste. If you were going to scare the shit out of someone, you have to do it right or else it just looks wrong.

**It was hard to write as the Joker, but it was fun. Next, I'll have the movie and the meeting and possibly the beginning to the fight… Review please!**

**-FJ3**


	6. Chapter 6

**Aw, thank you guys! Almost all of you said how you liked the Joker and you thought that I had him nailed. I did Wikipedia him and study him for a while, but I'm glad my work paid off! Thank you guys, [non-reviewers] for most of you reviewing that last chapter. Maybe my dream is achievable. It will take a lot of work, a lot of Robin, and a lot of Fruit Punch, but either way, I'm either going out with a bang or I'm going to BURN THIS SUCKER DOWN! *Tee hee* Just kidding on that last one. **

**Chapter… Uh… Oh yeah! 6:**

Everyone at the table was merrily stuffing their faces with pizza, some being more polite about it then others. Robin didn't have a huge appetite, but he did manage to eat three pieces. It was the best he could do. Some could argue it was just because he was younger and had a smaller stomach. Others would argue and say it was because he had a lot on his mind. Or the smarter one would guess that he had eaten earlier. The smarter one would be right. Robin had eaten a sandwich and some fruit punch, which he found tasted pretty good.

Robin, who was full and waiting for the others to finish, kicked back and took to one of his favorite past times: people watching. He'd just watch people walk by on the street or onto the outdoor tables and just watch what they do. He found it amusing because he'd try to guess either their names or how they know who they're with and see if he got it right. It wasn't that hard for him to eavesdrop. That was another thing he liked to do.

"Hey Rob, you sure your full?" Wally asked, about to shove the rest of Robin's pizza into his open mouth.

Robin nodded. "Yeah, I'm full."

Wally proceeded to take out all of the cheese covered pieces of pizza, topped with olives and mushrooms. Robin was surprised that Kenny had remembered his favorite pizza, but it didn't shock him. Kenny had a pretty good memory. Robin closed his eyes and concentrated on the voices around him.

"_And he was like…" "OMG! No way!"_

"_Dude, come on! We're going to be late!" "We have five minutes left!" "No we don't! Your clock is slow!" "I don't have a clock!"_

"_I'm in the mood for pizza." "Yeah, that sounds good."_

"_Did you watch the News last night?" "No." "Did you hear about that serial killer who lures people outside by playing the sound of a baby crying?" "No." "Can you believe he does that?" "No."_

Most of it was just boring, average, every day talk. There was the occasional word or two about crimes, and some things about the superheroes, and sometimes even stuff about villains. From the sounds of it, it was all rumors, but Robin didn't really care. Well, he didn't until he heard a familiar voice that wasn't all too far away.

"_I'm tired of arguing! Fine, if you want to see that movie, we'll go see it! But when BB has a huge fit, I'm not taking the blame!"_

Robin straightened up and turned around, looking for the speaker. He saw her, standing underneath a street light, talking into a small silver circle. She wore the same cloak she always had worn, a dark bluish purple that's hood formed down over her face kind of like a bird beak. Robin grinned. He brought his feet down to the ground and stood up.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back," Robin told them.

He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill, setting it on the table. Then he dashed over to the edge of the porch to the restaurant and jumped over the railing, tearing down the street out of sight. No one thought much about it though. They were sure Robin would be back before they finished the pizza with an explanation. Robin bounded towards the girl beneath the street light.

"Raven?" he asked, when he got to her.

The girl froze, looking over at him with her deep eyes. It took her a second, but she recognized him.

"Hey Robin," she said gently.

Robin was glad she remembered him. Raven lowered her hood, revealing that she hadn't changed much in the past few years, same as Robin. She was still in need of a tan. She did have a happier look to herself though.

"How has the team been?"

"Eh, different since you left. We've managed though. We have a few new people."

"New people?" Robin questioned.

Raven nodded. "Yeah, we managed to save Blondie a year or two ago. BB hasn't been that happy in a while."

"You replaced _me_ with Terra?" he laughed at that. Then his expression darkened. "What about Star?"

Raven shrugged. "What about her?"

"Is she still around?"

Raven nodded. "Yeah, and she still has that strange worm of hers."

Robin smiled. "Typical Star…"

"We all miss you Robin," Raven told him.

Robin felt his heart drop briefly. He set a nervous hand on his neck. He sighed.

"I know; it's not the same without you guys. But you all have your time and I have mine now."

"You still the youngest?" she teased.

He nodded. "Yeah, I like it that way though."

Raven nodded. "You always did. So, you in charge of that team too?"

Robin grinned. "Almost. I've just lost my communication skills, but the leader, he's the oldest of all of us; he said that when I'm ready, I can be leader again. He said I'm 'destined' to be the leader and such."

Raven rolled her eyes.

XxXxX

Kaldur leaned back in his seat, a hand on his stomach. He was now full, as was most of the table. It was just Superboy and Wally who kept on eating. The pizza had one or two slices left, and Robin still hadn't gotten back. He knew Robin was across the street, still talking to a girl in a purple cloak. They looked like they knew each other and were just catching up. Kaldur didn't know though. Robin didn't usually share stuff about his personal life.

Then, he heard a beeping. He recognized it as the communicator. He stood up from the table and excused himself to edge of the porch, before he answered it.

"Aqualad here," he said into it.

"This is Batman. Is Robin there with you?" Batman's voice sounded, sounding urgent.

"No, but-," he started.

"Shit!" Batman yelled and cut the connection.

Kaldur jumped in surprise, before returning to the table.

"Who was that?" Megan asked, curiously.

"Batman… and he was looking for Robin," Kaldur said slowly, still confused.

"Why don't you just go have Robin call him back?"

Kaldur stood to his feet. "Batman sounded like it was the end of the world… I wonder what's up…"

Kaldur walked over to the railing and jumped it gently, just like Robin did and walked towards him and the girl. Robin was laughing.

"No way!" he cried.

Kaldur felt guilt bubble up in his chest, but he knew Batman had called for an important reason so he had to have Robin call him back.

"Yeah," Raven laughed. "He was stuck as a donkey that whole week!"

Robin's mouth hurt from smiling so hard.

"Hey Robin," Kaldur interrupted.

Robin stopped laughing and looked up.

"Yeah?"

"So, you're Aqualad, right?" Raven asked him after looking him up and down once.

The blonde haired boy smiled. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Robin told me about you guys," she explained, her eyes gleaming happily.

"Guilty," Robin smiled. "Kaldur, I'd like you to meet Raven. She's been a friend of mine for a while."

Kaldur nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"What do you need?" Robin asked him.

"Oh, Batman called a minute ago, asking for you. When I told him you weren't next to us, he flipped out. I suggest you call him back," Kaldur told him.

Robin nodded. "Uh… yeah, okay. Can I borrow your communicator? I kinda… left mine on my dresser…"

Kaldur slipped the communicator from his wrist and handed it to Robin. Robin fiddled with it briefly before walking off to the shadows to talk. Kaldur, not wanting to have a silence pass between them, started talking.

"So, what all did Robin tell you about us?" he asked.

Raven smiled. "He described you as the Leader. The 'boy with the dark skin and the blonde hair'. It wasn't that hard to figure you out."

Kaldur nodded. That was fair enough.

"Does he ever talk about us?" Raven asked.

Kaldur shook his head. "Robin doesn't talk about his past with us."

Raven seemed surprised. "Well… That does make sense. Did he tell you guys that he was in the circus when he was younger?"

Kaldur hesitated. "Not directly."

Raven smiled. "He told us after I found out by going in his head."

"Do you know anything about his past?" Kaldur asked, curiously.

Raven nodded. "I do… but it's not particularly pleasant. I recommend that you ask him. If he truly trusts you, he'll tell you."

"We've asked already though. He won't tell us anything," Kaldur told her, concern in his voice.

"Then he simply doesn't trust you. It's not that you guys are bad or treat him wrong, though. Robin just as trust issues. If you could've seen what I saw in his head, you would understand everything Robin's ever done."

Kaldur sighed. "Well, since it's obvious that you aren't going to tell me about his past, can you compare it to something?"

Raven looked to the distance.

"Well, I could tell you what he felt during the worst part of his life, before he met Batman…"

Kaldur shrugged. "I'll take what I can get."

"You know those Bat Bombs things he has?"

Kaldur nodded. "Yeah, what about them?"

"If he had been Batman's apprentice then, he would've activated all of them and swallowed them."

"But that would… it'd kill him! It'd blow up his throat and stomach and…" then Kaldur got the idea. "Oh my…"

Raven nodded. "Yeah. I don't recommend asking him though. He'll tell you all when he's ready."

Kaldur nodded, her words still echoing through his head. Robin rarely showed depression on that high of a level. He had seen Robin sulk, get angry, and even start shaking with angry, but he had never seen Robin anywhere close to suicidal on that high of a level. But before Kaldur could ask Raven who Robin really was, Robin interrupted them.

"I can't get a hold of Batman," Robin said, troubled. "Are you sure he contacted you?"

Kaldur nodded. "Yes, I'm positive!"

Robin frowned. "I have a bad feeling about this…"

"It's probably nothing Robin," Raven assured him. "Batman always does overreact."

Robin sighed. "Yeah…"

He smiled. "Alright, Raven we're going to see a movie across the street, but I'll talk to you later?"

Raven nodded. "Yeah, alright. Bye!"

Robin followed Kaldur back across the street to Smithy's Pizza again, a fake smile plastered on his face. Then he noticed Kaldur's expression.

"Hey, something wrong?" he asked his friend.

Kaldur shook his head. "Nah, I'm okay."

_But you're not…_

**Yes, I know, there wasn't a fight scene this chapter. I have it planned for next chapter. Answer this though:**

**VIOLENT or FUNNY? **

**The Joker has comical weapons which I can have him use to be funny or I can have him be violent and murderous. You guys can pick. If you don't, I will. **

**REVIEW! SPARTA! MUFFINS! Jeffrey Dahmer! **

**-FJ3**


	7. Chapter 7

**Look me up on deviantart. I have some Robin pictures up. I'm working on two others at the moment though. My name on there is FrankandJoe3. By the way, in case you haven't noticed, I'm a chika. I'm a chika who's **_**almost**_** Robin's age! Tee hee! Sorry that the last chapter sort of veered off topic. I wanted to have someone tell the team how bad Robin's past was, and Raven from Teen Titans is the only one besides Batman who actually knows. [Episode Haunted, she goes into his head and sees his parents before they die]. I've seen the episode and have the pictures saved… *sigh* this chapter will be fun to write… Maybe… **

**Chapter 7!**

"No," Superboy, Robin, Wally and Kaldur all said in unison at Megan's suggestion.

None of them wanted to watch a chick flick. Megan looked at her feet in embarrassment.

"O-Oh, okay," she nodded softly.

Wally shot her an apologetic glance, as did Superboy, but their attention was quickly diverted back to the list of movies.

"How about Sanctum?" Robin suggested.

"I dunno… What about The Roommate?" Wally suggested.

"I can't watch that! Did you see the trailer to that? It's like, rated R!" Robin argued.

"There's an R on your suit too, but we still watch you. Come on!" Wally shot back.

The two glared at each other, angrily. The others paid no mind to them and looked through the list of movies.

"How about Season of the Witch? I heard that was pretty good," Kaldur suggested.

"I don't know. The last movie I saw with Nicolas Cage in it sucked," Wally told him, without loosening his glare.

"No way! The Sorcerer's Apprentice was awesome!" Robin insisted.

"What do you know? You're just thirteen!"

"The sky is blue! The grass is green! Try stating something that isn't obvious!"

Kaldur set a hand on both of their shoulders and pushed them apart.

"Enough you two. Save it for after the movie."

They both looked away from each other, stubbornly.

"So, Sanctum or Season of the Witch?" Superboy asked, those being the best two choices that he could see.

"Sanctum," Wally said, just as Robin said, "Season of the Witch."

Kaldur smiled.

"This is going to be fun," he muttered to himself.

XxXxX

Batman quietly walked into Robin's room, looking around. He turned on the light and viewed the room. He gasped and he felt his heart stop beating. It looked as if there had been a struggle. He saw a huge hole through the wall, scuffle marks on the wooden floor, tears on the posters and Robin's computer was shattered on his floor. It wasn't all this that scared him though. Batman recognized bits of Robin's outfit, probably torn in the struggle across the room, most of them red from what looked like blood. The thing that told Batman something was wrong was the fact that Robin's communicator sat on his dresser, his utility belt next to it.

"Oh God," he whispered, panic rising in his throat.

He walked up to Robin's utility belt and picked it up gently. There was a bit of what looked like blood on the clasp. Anger built up inside of Batman.

"JOKER!" he screamed. "WHERE IS HE?"

A laugh rang through the house before the house went silent again. Batman set Robin's utility belt back down on his dresser before running out of the room.

"Where is he?" Batman roared again, furious.

"Here, there, tomorrow, yesterday, next week… I'm not sure," the Joker's voice sounded, resulting in another cackle.

"Joker, come down here and tell me where he is!" Batman demanded, fury erupting from his body in waves.

Suddenly, the Joker appeared in front of him, from out of nowhere. And with him came a squirting flower that was slowly releasing a gas that Batman knew well. It was the Joker's 'Laughing Gas'. It was lethal and he knew it. Quick as he could, he reached into his utility belt and pulled out a small tube, setting it in his teeth and began to breathe slowly. This small tube was one he and Robin both used for underwater dives. Batman was sure it'd be fine as a gas mask too.

Batman charged forward, bringing his fist with him, planning on sinking it into the joker's midsection. Instead, it ended up hitting a joy buzzer on the Joker's hand, sending electrical shocks down Batman's spine. He managed to wrestle out of its way, his body stinging from its shock. Batman refused to be defeated this easily. He had to find out what this bastard had done with Robin.

"If you've hurt him, I swear I'll," Batman began to threaten, flipping out of the Joker's path to disappear into the shadows, allowing him to attack better.

"You'll what, Battie ma boy?" the Joker taunted, his sick and sadistic laugh ringing in the air around him.

Batman felt a chill run down his back. "I'll do whatever it takes to murder your ass right where you stand if you've even laid a finger on him!"

The Joker giggled.

"What if it was one of my pies that he ingested? What if I shot him? Then my finger wouldn't have come anywhere near him," he pointed out, scanning the air for the Caped Crusader.

Panic ran through Batman again. Robin had always liked pies. Clenching his fists tightly, Batman chucked a Bat Bomb at the Joker's feet, being sure to move quickly as to not reveal his position. It exploded, but the Joker wasn't injured at all. Not even a scratch.

"You're just wasting your weapons. You can't hurt me!" the Joker told Batman.

Batman felt a growl rise up in his throat as he sprang from the shadows and managed to land a punch on the Joker, right in the jaw. The Joker didn't flinch. He just laughed again, his mouth frozen in a permanent grin.

"Where is he?" Batman asked again, dropping to the ground and kicking the Joker right behind his knees.

It caused the Joker to drop to his knees, but he didn't wince.

"How badly do you want to know?" the Joker taunted.

Before he could rise to his feet, Batman kicked him in the face, sending him flying back a few feet. A crack sounded and from the looks of it, the Joker had just broken his nose. This just caused the joker to laugh. When he felt the blood trickle from his nose to his lips, he laughed harder and licked his lips.

"Beautiful," he said, something seductive about his voice.

Now officially creeped out, Batman swung his foot right into the Joker's middle, sending him rolling a few more feet away.

"WHERE IS HE?" Batman screamed, furious.

The Joker stood to his feet, his eyes wide with excitement.

"You really want to know?" he taunted.

Batman growled and sprung forward, grabbing the joker by his throat and holding him up into the air.

"WHERE IS HE?" Batman screamed at him.

The Joker laughed, his laugh distorted by the sounds of his choking.

"Here, you can go meet him Battie boy. Let me help you."

Before Batman knew what was happening, a pie plunged into his face that smelt distinctly like almonds. Batman knew that smell. He dropped the Joker as fast as he could and pulled the pie off of his face, but the pieces of the pie clung to his face and he failed to get them off in time. The smells of the toxic cyanide entered his nose and caused him to drop weakly to the ground. He was slowly losing consciousness.

"W-Where… R-Robin…?" Batman's voice was slurred.

He saw three Jokers now, all grinning sadistically at him.

"I set up Robbie boy's room. So, once the lil' tyke sees his Daddy dearest dead, he'll come after me. Then you'll get to see him again!" the Joker's laughter rang through the house and was like acid to Batman's ears.

The world began to go dark, but Batman heard something sit down beside him. He wasn't sure what it was and he was sure he never would.

"Robin…" he whispered. "I'm sorry…"

Then the lights went out in Batman's head. As the Joker stared down at him, he almost felt bad, seeing the life drain from Robin's only 'family' member that was live. After all, the Joker was somewhat human, after all, beneath the chemical waste's effects. He knelt beside Batman and slowly slid off Batman's mask and his gloves, setting them next to the man. He hoped doing that would take away enough of the cyanide to keep Batman alive long enough until Robin got home.

He also hoped, ever so dearly, that Robin cried his baby blue eyes out at seeing Batman's life just end in a flash from the deadly toxin. And he also hoped that Robin had some of the _delicious_ly deadly pie he had left in the fridge. But what he hoped the most was that Robin would attempt to avenge the man he had considered closest to him. The Joker was already itching for a fight with the little tyke. The thought made him hungry. He wondered if the side kicks had any pizza in the refrigerator. He stood back to his feet and staggered to the kitchen, drooling already at the thought.

XxXxX

Robin was the first one to walk out of the theatre. He smiled.

"See, told you it was a good movie," he taunted his best friend. 

The red head folded his arms over his chest in anger.

"Whatever dude, Sanctum would've been better…"

But before they could resume that argument, their communicators went off. All except for Robin's, who had left his on his dresser. The communicator said that it was Robin who was calling. Robin just shrugged and watched as they all answered the communicators. Their eyes all widened.

"Oh my God," Wally mouthed in horror.

He grabbed Robin's wrist and fast as he could without using his powers, tore out of the place, dragging Robin behind him. The others followed.

"What's going on?" Robin asked, struggling not to trip over his own feet.

They stopped when they approached the motorcycles right next door to Smithy's Pizza. Wally quickly slid his helmet on and gestured for Robin to hurry up. Robin, confused, slipped his helmet on and mounted his motorcycle. The others mimicked him and they all tore down the road.

"What's going on? What did they say?" Robin asked, frustrated.

"It's Batman! Superman said that he just found Batman's body-," Wally began.

Before he could continue, Robin pressed the accelerator to his motorcycle and gunned it down the highway, tears finding their way to his eyes.

"Batman!" he cried more to himself, wishing he had the ability to teleport.

Dread rose up inside of him as he felt the wind tear at his body like a blood thirsty cannibal. Robin didn't care though. For all he cared, it could murder him now and he'd keep riding. Nothing was going to stop him from getting back to Mount Justice. Batman was in trouble, possibly dead and Robin wasn't there. Just the thought of that caused the motorcycle to speed up. But in Robin's head, it couldn't have been going slower.

"Damnit!" he screamed at himself. "We shouldn't have gone out! This is all my fault!"

Tears escaped from his eyes and ran down his face to his chin where they were absorbed by the padding in the helmet. The others fought to keep up with him, but for now, that was a battle they were losing. For right now, Robin was a woman scorned, and as the saying goes, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

**Yes, I just compared Robin to a woman. Let it go. Anyway, please be nice. And no, I did not kill Batman. If anyone did, it was the Joker… anyway, I love the number 7, so by default, this is my favorite chapter… Hmm… **

_**And let the sun rain down on me. **_

**-FJ3**


	8. Chapter 8

**Man, you all must think I'm heartless! I love Robin and I love when he's heartbroken, but why the hell would I ruin his life? This chapter was written for someone who requested me to have more scenes wear Robin is 'vulnerable, upset'. I can do stuff like this (: Next chapter is the real waterfall scene[s], but this one is sort of depressing… **

**Chapter 8: **

Robin leapt off of his motorcycle before it even stopped. It caused him to face plant into the concrete of the garage, but he ignored his pain and leapt to his feet, ripping the helmet from his head and tossing it back behind him. Kaldur had to swerve out of its way in order not to crash. He wasn't mad at Robin though. He understood the boy's worry. Him and the others got off of their own motorcycles swiftly, but not in such a hurry. Robin scrambled through the door, running as fast as he could in hopes to find Batman.

As he ran across the wooden floor of the living room, tears poured from his eyes down his chin and silent sobs. His body shook as he ran with all of his might, bounding around the house. Through his blurred vision, he could make out the feint outlines of the Green Arrow and the Flash. They were deep in conversation and didn't seem to notice him. Robin continued to run, looking this way and that for his mentor. He ran into his room, thinking that Batman might be there.

Through his tear stained eyes, all he could see was that his room was torn up. He saw that everything was messed up and he saw black pieces of clothing everywhere and a lot of red. A lot of things passed through his head at seeing this, but his initial reaction was to collapse to his knees and sob. He couldn't think straight anymore. He felt responsible for whatever happened to Batman. It was his fault. If he hadn't persuaded the team to go out for pizza and a movie, then he could've been there to save Batman.

He leaned his head over his legs and just wished he could disappear. He felt his breath become short and ragged, but he didn't care. He just wished that Batman was here. He just wished… well, he just wished a lot of things, but none of them were possible at the moment. He set his hands over his face, thinking that maybe that could just hide him. Maybe, if the world couldn't see him, he couldn't see the world. To Robin though, that sounded like a lot of empty wishes and maybes and that never was good.

He thought he heard footsteps, but he didn't care. He just wanted Batman. He wanted Alfred. He wanted his parents. The thought of that just made him sob harder.

"Hey Rob, you okay?" Wally's voice was soft and gentle.

Robin shook his head.

"N-No…" he sobbed. "No…"

Guilt rose up in the red head's throat. He didn't like seeing Robin like this. He preferred when Robin was angry at him. At least Robin could blow off anger easily. This was different though. This wasn't anger. This wasn't even Robin. This couldn't be Wally's best friend. This was just the scared little boy that hid beneath Robin's mask. This was the real Dick Grayson, in the flesh. Wally sat down beside the sobbing boy, wanting to comfort him. He really hated seeing Robin like this.

He put an arm around the thirteen year old. Robin didn't push him away like he normally would've. Instead, Robin just sat there as if Wally wasn't even there. That scared Wally even more.

"Come on Robin! Push me away! Yell at me! Scream at me! Please do something other then this!" Wally begged.

Robin shook his head.

"Don't call me that," he sobbed.

His shoulders shook violently and tears came much faster. Breathing became harder and harder for him, because every breath he took, he inhaled tears and nearly choked on them.

"Don't call you what?" the red head asked confused.

Now he knew something was wrong. Robin wasn't yelling anymore. He wasn't hiding beneath his mask. Instead, the hollow shell that harbored him shattered and everything he had been hiding poured out like an ocean.

"I'm not Robin! I don't want to be Robin! I… I just want my parents back… I want Batman…" he choked out.

The red head had to blink his eyes fast to clear some of his own tears from them.

"If you aren't Robin, who are you?" Wally asked him, one arm hugging the boy tighter.

Robin didn't answer at first. He kept sobbing and Wally was perfectly fine with that. Well, he didn't like seeing his best friend sobbing his guts out, but he didn't mind having to wait for Robin's response. The boy was going through a lot and he needed help. Wally was just afraid that he wouldn't be able to help him.

"M-My name is Ri-Richard Grayson," he sobbed. "I don't want to be Robin anymore. I don't want to be a hero… I want to go home…"

Wally's jaw dropped. He knew who Robin was. His name was Richard Grayson… He made a mental note to look the boy up.

"Where is home Rob- er, Richard? I can take you there," he offered.

Robin shook his head. "N-No you can't. M-My only home is w-with Batman."

"What about your parents' home?" Wally asked, confused.

"D-Dead," Robin's voice broke and he felt as if his vocal chords had exploded.

He couldn't move his lips to breathe or to speak. He just sat there, somewhat protected by the arm of his best friend, sobbing his eyes out. Wally felt as if he had just been hit by a train going full speed. He felt his heart shatter. That's why Robin… Richard had always held back on them. That's why on Mother's Day and Father's Day that he wouldn't write letters like the rest of them. That's why he had no family pictures hung up anywhere, besides the one of him and Batman beside his bed. Everything clicked inside of Wally's head, but he just wished that it hadn't.

He got up, leaving Robin alone on the floor by his bedroom door. He needed to find out if Batman was okay. Inside, he was praying as hard as he could that Batman was fine. If he wasn't, Robin's heart would be even more shattered and he might end up doing who knows what. Wally approached his uncle, nervously.

"Hey, is Batman going to be okay?" he asked.

The Flash had to look away from his nephew when he replied with a heavy sigh.

"Wally… I… I don't know. When Superman found him, he was out cold on the floor. He was barely alive when we found him. We found traces of cyanide on his mask, a stack of playing cards and a note for Robin next to his body. According to the note, Batman was attacked by the Joker," he admitted.

Wally's expression darkened.

"How's Robin holding up?" his uncle asked curiously.

Wally shook his head and ran a hand weakly through his hair.

"Robin… he's heartbroken… He just keeps telling me that he wants to go home and wants his parents…"

"Then why don't we take him home?" the Flash suggested.

Wally shook his head. "He doesn't have one. He told me that his parents were dead and his only home was with Batman. So if Batman dies…"

"The boy does too, in a matter of speaking," the red head's uncle finished, a frown on his face.

The Green Arrow glanced over in Robin's direction and his expression darkened almost instantly.

"Poor boy… I say we should take him to Batman. It might put him at ease," the man thought aloud.

The Flash nodded.

"We should… Wally, go tell your friend that he's going to go see Batman. I'll start up the car."

Wally nodded and headed Robin's way. The Flash went back towards the garage. Kaldur, Superboy and Megan had migrated to the kitchen, out of everyone's way.

"Do you think Batman's going to be okay?" Megan asked, her eyes occasionally glancing over at Superboy who sat beside her.

Kaldur nodded as he looked through the refrigerator.

"Yeah, this is Batman we're talking about. He's probably handled worse," Kaldur assured her, something in the refrigerator catching his eyes.

Megan nodded as Kaldur pulled a pie from the refrigerator. The pie looked really good, covered in just the right amount of whipped cream, the crusts just perfect. One top was a note: 'To the Sidekicks'.

"You guys hungry?" he asked them.

Megan held up a hand. "Nah, I'm still full from pizza."

Superboy nodded in agreement. Kaldur sighed and put the pie away.

"I guess we can wait until morning. It does say 'To the Sidekicks'. I guess that means it's for all of us. We'll have to wait until then I guess," he smiled.

He closed the refrigerator and yawned.

"Good night guys," he told Megan and Superboy.

Superboy waved weakly.

"Bye," Megan said gently.

Once he was gone, an awkward silence filled the air between Megan and Superboy. Both of them, who sensed the silence, got up and left the room, one after the other. Once he was sure they were gone, Kaldur walked back into the room and took the pie out of the refrigerator. He took a look at the note one last time, before cutting himself a small piece and setting the rest of the pie back in the refrigerator. He simply slipped the small piece into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. He smiled widely. It tasted really good. It smelt like almonds, but it tasted good.

Kaldur began to feel dizzy, but he assumed it was just because he was tired. It was about 10 PM anyway. He walked weakly to his room, but he never made it to his bed. He collapsed on his floor and began to lose consciousness slowly. He just kept assuming it was because he was tired though. Besides, what else could cause him to collapse onto the floor like this?

**Yes, Kaldur just had some poisoned pie. Next chapter is about Robin seeing Batman again and there's going to be a close father/son relationship thing. It's like, family though, so don't get your thong in a twist. **

**-FJ3**


	9. Chapter 9

**100+ reviews! *tears fall heavily* It almost makes me feel bad for typing up this chapter… But then again, *Fangirl scream* YES! YES! YES! I love you all, but not in the gay/lez way. Yes, this is the depressing chapter. I wrote some of it out earlier. I have to admit that I had to stop to blink quickly to clear my eyes, so I might have to dumb down the depression. And quit assuming you bipolar Mexicans! I DON'T KILL! I just maim or seriously injure. Death isn't something as common in my stories now as it was a while ago… Thank you all! **

**Chapter 9:**

The car had fallen silent; the only sound coming from anyone was the soft breathing that came from Robin who was fast asleep and the soft sounds of the radio. Robin had cried himself into a small sleep, and he almost looked peaceful. With his sunglasses still over his eyes, it hid his eyebrows that were furrowed. Tear stains led from his eyes, but at the moment, they were dry and empty. Wally glanced back at Robin and felt a small smile come over his face.

"He's asleep," Wally told his uncle softly.

The Flash nodded.

"I suppose that's for the best. The boy needs to rest after all… well… never mind."

Wally understood and he leaned back in his seat. He closed his eyes softly and went over everything he knew in his mind.

"_I'm not Robin! I don't want to be Robin! I… I just want my parents back! I want Batman…"_

"_M-My name is Ri-Richard Grayson."_

"_M-My only home is w-with Batman."_

"_What about your parents' home?" "D-Dead." _

"_So if Batman dies…" "The boy does too." _

Wally was super confused. Robin wasn't Robin? Robin was Richard Grayson, a boy who lived with Batman because his own parents died. Richard Grayson apparently was a trapezist and his middle name was John. Richard John Grayson was a hero, but he had no powers in him. That meant his parents probably didn't have powers either.

"_Yes, you're definitely their child. I haven't seen eyes like that in…" "Four years."_

Wally frowned in anger. What happened four years ago? And Robin's parents' names were Mary and John. Someone had to know what happened. Wally sat up and glanced over at his uncle.

"Can I borrow your phone?" he asked.

The Flash nodded.

"Sure, just be sure to return it when you're done."

Wally nodded and picked up his uncle's phone. He went to the internet on the phone. He took one last glance at Robin, but the Boy Wonder was still asleep, lost in the realm of his own personal nightmares. He began to quickly type on the touch pad screen. 'Mary and John Grayson' before hitting enter. He knew it was a long shot, but there was always the chance that he'd get lucky. While Wally was trying to figure out the poison that had ruined Robin long ago, Robin was inside of his own head, fighting inner demons that held grudges against him, as deep as the hatred he still viciously held to Tony Zucco, the man he should have slaughtered.

"It's… my fault," his mouth moved softly, his eyes darting around furiously underneath his eyelids.

In his head, he saw the trapeze wire snap.

"_John!" _his mother screamed in panic as she failed to get a grip on her husband's hand.

"_Mary!" _his father screamed as he hurtled towards the ground, Mary falling right after him.

"_Mom! Dad!"_ Robin sobbed in his head.

The second his father hit the earth, a series of sharp cracks sounded across the room. Sobs fell from Robin's eyes and he leapt over the railing that kept him away from them, just as his mom hit the ground beside his dad, another sharp series of cracks issuing from her. Robin ran to their side, and stared down at them, tears coming from his eyes. There was so much blood. Screams echoed across the circus from those in the crowd. Then, Robin couldn't stop himself. He found screams coming from his own lips. He dropped to his knees next to them.

"Wake up," he whispered softly. "Wake up Mommy, wake up Daddy. Don't leave me here."

Wally glanced back at his friend in surprise. Robin had his knees pulled up to his chest and was hugging them tightly. He seemed to be biting his lip furiously. The red head wanted nothing more than to wake Robin up from his nightmare, but he decided not to. He sighed, his eyes finally straying from the boy.

"I… Kill him… You can't stop me," Robin whispered, clutching his knees tighter.

In his head, he saw Bruce Wayne staring at him, desperation in his eyes.

"_Richard, please! These men all have relation to Tony Zucco. He could kill you before you could even say his name! I forbid you from going after him!" _Bruce yelled at him.

Robin saw tears come to his younger self's eyes. Robin had never really had the courage to stand up against Batman. He had always been afraid of him, as he was now.

"_Richard! Look at me! Promise me you won't go after him!"_

"_I… I promise,_" he saw himself lie, looking down at Bruce's shoes, tears coming from his blue eyes.

"_Richard, please don't cry. I… I didn't mean to upset you…"_

Robin saw his younger self fake a smile and walk off to his new 'room'. He had been mortified at the thought of living in a stranger's house. It didn't matter then though. That night, he had planned to break out. He was going to stop Tony Zucco, no matter the cost. While Robin watched his younger self go after the crime boss, Wally had thought he had found something. He had found an obituary for a Mary and John Grayson, who had been a part of a circus act for Haley's Circus known as the 'Flying Graysons'.

But when he looked at the picture, he knew automatically that it couldn't be Robin. The boy in the picture had long brown hair that hung in his eyes. He had a wide grin and he wore a stupid green costume with a huge yellow G on it. It looked nothing like Robin. But he was curious, so Wally read the article.

_Mary and John Grayson of the Flying Graysons in Haley's Circus were killed today in a tragic accident. The wire on their trapeze snapped and both hurtled to their death. Their son, Richard Grayson, was put up for adoption the next day. The Funeral will be held…_

Wally frowned. He felt bad for the poor boy. His parents were murdered on the trapeze. But it was probably just a coincidence. The boy in the picture _couldn't_ be Robin. Robin's hair was black, short and neat, and he hated anything green. He simply refused to wear it. Wally simply went to the next article, hoping for some better luck.

But after 10 minutes of searching, the red head could only find that same article over and over again. It made him mad. So instead of pictures, he went to videos and looked them up. There was a news footage. Wally opened it up. The video showed a woman on the trapeze bars, swinging to meet her husband. Suddenly, the wire snapped and the woman tumbled, the man falling with her. Screams filled the air. The most apparent one, muffled by the phone's horrible audio, came from a familiar voice. A little boy, the one from the obituary, leapt over the railing towards the man and woman.

"Wake up!" the boy screamed at the two of them, blood covering his body as he tried to shake them awake. "Wake up Mommy! Wake up Daddy! Don't leave me here!"

Wally gasped as he recognized those as the exact words Robin had used. The voice sounded a bit like Robin too.

"Hey, Robin, we're here," the Flash called back at Robin.

Robin sat up with a start. He looked around frantically. Then he calmed down as he recognized where he was.

"A-Alright, thank you," he said softly, climbing out of the car.

He offered a weak wave at them before entering the doors to the hospital. Wally waved back at him before his uncle sped away.

"Aren't we going to wait for him?" the Kid Flash asked his uncle, confused.

"Robin's going to stay there all night. I can feel it."

"They don't let you though," the red head pointed out.

The Flash laughed. "Obviously, you haven't seen what Robin's done to get his way. Batman talks about him a lot."

Wally smiled. "Yeah…"

XxXxX

"Thanks," Richard Grayson told the nurse, his voice getting softer and softer.

The nurse smiled.

"It's alright honey. I was told to let you in anyway," she laughed. "They said you'd find a way to get in if I didn't let you."

Richard smiled and ran an unconscious hand through his once brown hair.

"Yeah, I probably would."

The nurse gently opened the door and gestured for Robin to go in. When Robin stepped inside, he felt all breath leave his lungs. He felt as if he had just been punched. Bruce Wayne was on a hospital bed, looking frail and weak. His heart beat was monitored on a machine to his left, the steady BEEP of the machine seeming to get louder and louder. He had an oxygen mask around his mouth and an IV was stuck into his arm, keeping his body hydrated. Tears once again fought their way to Richard's blue eyes. He pulled off his sunglasses and set them in his hoodie pocket, wiping at his eyes with his hoodie sleeve.

"W-What happened to him?" Robin asked, his voice quivering worse than an arrow case.

"Cyanide poisoning," the nurse told him, patting him gently on the shoulder.

Richard's breath shortened and the nurse took the hint to leave. He gently staggered to Bruce Wayne's side and stared down at him through his what seemed to be forever tear stained eyes. He pulled a chair up beside his mentor and sat there for what seemed like an eternity, listening to the maddening sound of Bruce's heart beat through the machine. He looked over his mentor more carefully. He wasn't wearing his costume or a suit. He was wearing a white shirt from the looks of it, simple as that. His arms were on top of the white sheets, ungloved. His eyes were closed and his chest just barely rose and fell with perfect rhythm.

Richard just sat there, not sure of what to do. He had never been super close to his mentor. Batman and Robin were more of a step brother and a step dad from separate side of the family. They had never been as close as Richard and Bruce both had wanted, but they were close enough because they were, in some way, a family. He had never hugged Batman, never taken his hand, and never even exchanged happy glances with him. Batman hadn't really been the best 'father'. He did watch out for Robin though and protect him from an invisible invasion of enemies that never were going to come.

Robin took a deep breath and felt one tear fall from his eyes gently and trail down his face. He felt it tickle down his cheek, but the tickle didn't make him laugh. It sent bone chilling shivers down his spine, upsetting him even more. Soon, that one tear turned to three, and those three tears turned to several. Richard was so confused. He didn't know what to do anymore. He couldn't think. He just sat there for an eternity in his head. Then, before he could control his actions, his hand shot out.

Then he did the last thing he ever though he would. He grabbed Batman's hand and held it tightly. He almost laughed at how small his hands looked compared to Batman's, but he didn't. He just held his 'father's hand tightly.

"Hey… D-Dad… " he whispered softly.

Bruce didn't stir, but Robin didn't expect him to. As tears spilled from his eyes, Robin felt the truth spill out, piece by piece. To tell you the truth, Robin wasn't even sure what he was saying anymore. It just felt nice to talk to Batman and tell him the truth. It felt nice to talk to someone who wouldn't yell at him for what he was saying. It was nice to destroy the dam in his mind that he had been building up for the past few years. Everything just spilled out and Robin's tears came faster, gently spilling onto Bruce Wayne's tan arm.

Then, as Robin felt his voice was about to break, something happened. He felt Bruce Wayne's hand close gently over his own. Robin felt his heart stop for a second in pure happiness. A grin broke out across his face and he laughed in relief. His sad tears immediately became happy tears. He leaned down and hugged Batman's arm tightly, not taking his hand away from Batman's. It felt nice to have someone there for him again. Bruce Wayne smiled weakly before the IV kicked in again and he fell asleep, his 'son' holding tightly to his arm.

He knew it wasn't a perfect family, but he made a mental promise to himself to make it as close to one as he could. He had promised himself that ever since he had seen the murder in Robin's eyes when Batman had discovered him going after Tony Zucco, despite Batman's orders not to. He remembered finding Richard the next day in the living room, just sitting there, staring at the wall, his face emotionless. He remembered sitting beside him and joining Robin in staring at the wall. He remembered turning to Robin, only to see the boy looking up at him with curious wide eyes.

Richard had quickly looked away, but he had failed to hide the love in his eyes. That look was burnt into Batman's mind, as if it had been branded. Batman didn't mind though. It was that look that had kept him going. It was that one look that caused Batman to love Robin. It didn't take long for the Boy Wonder to fall asleep holding Batman's arm like a teddy bear that he never owned.

The nurse opened the door and looked in on them and smiled faintly. She set a hand over her heart and smiled, tears coming to her eyes. Her smile kept widening and widening until it was a sick, sadistic grin. The Joker stepped into the room and ripped off his mask, laughing gently, seeing the two.

"Aww, family reunion," he laughed softly.

He knelt beside Batman, his eyes wide with the same insane look they always had.

"Hey Battie Boy, told you you'd see your boy again. But you won't see him for long. He's going to come after me and I'll _kill _him. You better stop him before he does that," the Joker whispered into Batman's ear.

The look on Bruce Wayne's face darkened almost instantly and he clutched Robin's small pale hand tighter. The Joker let his mad laugh ring throughout the hospital room. He gently tousled Robin's hair before scribbling a note on the doctor's notes beside Batman's bed. He signed his name widely and kissed the paper dramatically. Then he stood to his feet and slipped the mask back over his head and his grin shrunk back down to a small smile.

"Good bye," he called, in a feminine like voice.

He considered unplugging Batman's IV or turning off his heart monitor, but he decided against it. He had already tortured Batman enough. But before he left, he decided to go against his own judgment. He pulled the IV from Batman's arm and gently switched off his heart monitor. Then he walked out of the room in his three inch white heels.

**Yes, I just ripped off the Dark Knight. I couldn't help it. I love the Joker and I wanted him to jack everything up. (: Oh yes, I'm ever so 'ruthless', ain't I? review!  
**

**-FJ3**


	10. Chapter 10

**Unplugging someone's heart monitor is like turning off a light switch. It doesn't kill nobody, it just scares the crap out of the doctors. And to remove someone's IV is just like putting them on Bread and Water for a week. It's kind of like torture if they're body is in pain or it dehydrates them, but no one has ever died from it. Same for cyanide poisoning; if you get them to the hospital soon enough, they live. Ya ta ta! Get used to it fool! Sorry, just mad that Mrs. Durham changed the seating arrangement. I don't sit by Chris anymore )':**

Megan gently stretched and yawned. She wasn't really a morning person, but she couldn't get back to sleep. She couldn't find Robin or Wally and it worried her. Usually, the two of them would be up already, wrestling over the cereal or watching some strange show on the television. But the cereal boxes hadn't been touched, the TV was off, Robin's room was empty and Wally's door was locked up tight. She couldn't remember what happened last night. She remembered bits and pieces, but everything after they got home was a blank to her.

So, not even bothering to change out of her nightgown, she knocked softly on Superboy's door. She heard some footsteps, obviously angered. The door was opened swiftly by Superboy, but his anger faded quickly when he saw it was just Megan. He had been expecting the Kid Flash to be there and it was a relief to see her instead. He smiled softly.

"You need something?" he asked, obviously tired.

Megan gently flipped some of her red hair from her face. She bet it looked like crap.

"Have you… Do you know where Robin is?" she asked him.

Superboy shook his head. "He's not in his room?"

There was a trace of confusion in his face, but it was covered by exhaustion. Megan shook her head and set a cold hand on the back of her warm neck.

"He's not here and Kaldur and Wally haven't left their rooms all morning."

Superboy frowned, but this wasn't his usual frown. He pulled a 'Robin' face as Megan came to call it. It was when his eyebrows furrowed and he frowned, obviously deep in thought. That was a face Robin made commonly so it was titled to his name. He shrugged.

"We… I guess… Maybe Kaldur knows?" he offered, running a hand over his black hair.

Megan nodded. She stood in his doorway, not sure whether to go or to just stand there. Superboy didn't mind though. She had always been the nicest to him.

"Do you… want me to come with you… or something?" he asked her, wondering why she just stood there.

Megan jumped in surprise at the question. Then she nodded shyly.

"Yes please."

Superboy smiled and walked out of his room and the two of them walked down the hallway. It was a strange sight. Megan's hair was all curly and she wore a long white nightgown that fell past her knees. Her green feet were bare on the cold wooden floor and she was at least half a foot shorter than the boy beside her. Superboy's hair was messy too and he wore a big white t-shirt and a pair of green checkered boxers that Megan hadn't noticed yet. He was barefoot too. Together, the two of them walked down the hall in a soft, comfortable silence to Kaldur's door.

Megan raised her fist gently to the wood and knocked.

"Kaldur!" she called, loud enough for him to hear, but soft enough for it to be considered an inside voice.

There was no reply. Megan raised her fist to knock again, but Superboy wrapped his fingers around her wrist and slowly lowered it to her side. She had to hide a blush of surprise. He knocked instead, a bit more forceful. Once again, there was no response. Superboy opened the door and he and Megan stepped in. Megan gasped when she saw Kaldur's unconscious body on the ground. She ran to Kaldur's side, as did Superboy. She shook him gently, but he didn't respond.

"Superboy! Something's wrong!" she said, upset.

Superboy set his index and middle finger to a certain part of the boy's wrist and waited, closing his eyes and counting. Megan watched him, not knowing what else to do. He opened his eyes and looked worried for a fraction of a second.

"We have to get help," he told her.

"We have to get him to the hospital, right?" Megan attempted to correct him.

Superboy nodded.

"Yeah, but first… I need to get some jeans on. Meet me in the garage."

He ran out of the room and Megan noticed the boxers for the first time. Hiding a giggle, Megan grabbed Kaldur by hugging him tightly and pulled him out of his room, moving as quickly as she could with her bare feet on the wood floors. She wished she was faster, but she wasn't and she wouldn't be until she knew Kaldur was alright. She just kept moving her feet until she couldn't take it. She flew up into the air and carried him as fast as she could, but it was hard to fly with a passenger and be fast about it.

By the time she got to the garage, Superboy was waiting for her. He looked around the motorcycle filled garage, trying to figure out the best way to get Kaldur to the hospital.

"I think if we both flew… We could get him there fast enough," Megan suggested, changing into some street clothes by transforming.

Superboy looked at Kaldur's body in her arms, upset.

"I can't fly in a straight line though. I just… super jump I guess," Superboy told her.

"It's either we super jump him there or take the motorcycles."

"I'll drive him there on a motorcycle," Superboy decided.

Megan shook her head. "I'm coming with you. I don't want to stay here alone."

"You won't be alone. Kid Flash is-…" then he listened to himself. "Alright, hop on."

Megan smiled, knowing she had won. Superboy messed with the motorcycle setting and set up a sidecar where they strapped Kaldur in. There was no way they'd be able to keep him on the actual motorcycle seat. Superboy climbed on first and Megan climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms around him, turning her head to keep an eye on Kaldur. Superboy handed her a helmet and she quickly slipped it on before turning her head sideways again. She knew it hurt to have a helmet dig into your back.

Superboy didn't slip on a helmet, being as stubborn as he was, and then he floored it. The cries that came from the motorcycle as its wheels ran over the pavement was relaxing to Megan and she relaxed, keeping a tight eye on Kaldur. She also kept a tight hold on Superboy. She had seen his driving and was less then impressed. 

XxXxX

When Robin woke up, he felt cold and alone. His back hurt and he didn't like it. He opened his eyes weakly. He saw the doctors messing with Bruce Wayne and he was pushing them away.

"Leave me alone damnit!" he screamed at them, pushing away the oxygen masks they offered.

"Mr. Wayne, please, we have to-," one doctor started, but Bruce silenced him with a glare.

"I'm fine! Leave me alone!" he insisted.

Robin rubbed his blue eyes weakly. The doctors attempted to hold him down to put the IV back in his arm, but he pushed them away and stood up on the hospital bed and jumped over their heads, landing behind them. He walked over to Robin and relief flooded his face. He walked up to Robin and stood in front of him, staring at the boy for a minute or so. Robin stared up at him too, both of them with curious eyes. Then Batman knelt to his knees so he was almost eye level with the boy.

"Richard," he said softly.

"B-Bruce," Robin returned, his voice just as soft.

Then, before Robin could react, Batman wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tight. Robin tensed up in surprise. He was… being hugged? He blinked softly in disbelief. This wasn't real. This only happened in his dreams. But then, he knew it was real. He smiled, but he didn't know whether to hug back or not, so he just stood there.

"I thought… I thought you were dead," Bruce whispered into Robin's ear.

Robin's smile faded softly.

"I'm not that easy to get rid of," he joked gently.

It was nice to hear Batman laugh. It was rare, but when it sounded, it was nice to hear. Batman's words rang through his ears. _I thought you were dead_. He imagined he and Batman needed to have a talk. Then something else ran through his mind. He had broken Batman's rules. Batman had made him swear to never reveal his name or his past, but Wally knew. And Wally never could keep his fat mouth shut. Robin closed his eyes tightly, knowing that he'd have to face the fire later.

He regretted it, but for now, he was safe. For now, Robin felt like a fire extinguisher, safe from Batman's flames. But when he got home, he'd be a piece of wood, ready to be burnt to a crisp.

XxXxX

Megan was sure that if Kaldur was awake, he'd be screaming too. Megan held onto Superboy for dear life as he barreled down the streets, whirring past cars at an amazing speed.

"Superboy!" she screamed, holding onto him tighter, her knuckles white. "Slow down!"

"I can't! We have to get him there fast!" Superboy called back at her, taking a quick glance from her to Kaldur to make sure they were still holding/strapped on.

For a brief second, Megan regretted coming along, but she stopped at the thought of staying home. She was sure if she had stayed, Wally would've flirted with her and that drove her insane. She didn't like it when he did that. She also didn't like the thought of flying off the motorcycle and dying. Just when she thought they couldn't go any faster, they did. Megan screamed in pure fear and hugged Superboy as tight as she thought her arms could. They were going numb and that terrified her.

Superboy laughed softly at her fear. He just wished there was some other way for her to hold on. He didn't mind being hugged of course because the wind whipping at his face was cold and she was warm, but it embarrassed him beyond belief. He just prayed that he'd stop blushing and relax. This was just a motorcycle ride. It also did decide the fate of Kaldur. The thought of that made Superboy clutch the accelerator tighter. Well, he tried. He was already holding it down as fast as he could. Megan's arms around him made it hard for him to breathe, but he didn't want to ask her to let go because he didn't want her to fly off the back. He just wished he could drive faster.

XxXxX

Wally's eyes scanned the computer screen, emotionless and he wrote down what he read onto the notebook page that would have to be his sixth page by now. One might call it obsessed, but Wally was just a little too curious. He wanted to know what made Robin tick. He wanted to know every gear and every spring inside of his clockwork. He wanted to know everything that he didn't. Then he'd have to have a talk with Robin and Batman when they got back. He wasn't sure when that would be, but when they returned, he'd be ready.

**Yes, that was a little bit of Megan/Superboy up there, but I couldn't resist. I HAD TO! Tee hee, sorry. Anyway, any mistakes, please keep them to yourself. My self esteem is low at the moment and I really don't feel good. I'm not in the mood to get flames, even if you consider them 'helpful'. **

**I'm not updating tonight again because I'm a bipolar Mexican who's angry at her Science Teacher for placing her next to Dumb and Dumber, while Chris is a whole table away… *Sigh* Damnit! Why? **


	11. Chapter 11

**I forgot you guys read these… *Sigh* Well, thanks for the support and thanks for reviewing. I know I mess up, but even Miley Cyrus admitted back when I used to like her [so about maybe 4 or 5 years ago], 'nobody's perfect', I included. Sorry I sounded all depressed, it comes in the job description. No school today cause of like, a centimeter of snow *rolls eyes*, so I might as well update. I might type up two chapters, I might not. I'm just bipolar so get used to it. **

**Chapter… 11 I think…:**

Wally opened his door for the first time that morning and stepped out, blinking rapidly at the sudden change in light. Then he stumbled into the kitchen, exhausted. He yawned and looked around. The kitchen was empty, except for a plate in the sink. The red head didn't think much of it. Instead, he opened up the refrigerator. The only thing there that even looked half appetizing was the pie on the top shelf that had a piece missing already. Wally grabbed it and sniffed it suspiciously. He crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Bleh, almonds," he muttered, putting it back in the refrigerator. "Don't it figure…?"

He looked over the rest of the refrigerator, but nothing appealed to us taste buds. He closed the refrigerator and stumbled back down the hall to Robin's door. He knocked on the door.

"Robin!" he yelled, almost drunkenly.

He was so tired. He got no reply. Before he yelled again, he remembered that Robin was at the hospital with Batman.

"Oh yeah… silly me," he mumbled and headed to the front room and looked around.

There didn't seem to be anyone home. He took a deep breath and stretched upwards, popping his shoulders. The red head stumbled to the couch and collapsed on it, his head hitting one of the fluffy pillows with a _thud_. He laid there for a minute or two before he remembered that he needed the remote to watch TV. He looked around and to his despair, the remote was on the coffee table in front of him, out of his reach. He groaned.

"Ah, the world _hates_ me," he complained, folding his arms over his chest.

He didn't get too long to complain about the horrible, judgmental world though, for his exhaustion caught up with him and head slapped him, knocking him into a deep sleep that he needed. Maybe when he woke up, he'd have a better heart for almond pie… Nah, not even sleep could lessen his hatred for almond pie. That stuff is just disgusting. Soon, loud snores came from his open mouth and the red head was lost in a world of bikini clad women and huge monster trucks.

XxXxX

Robin slipped his shades back over his eyes and walked next to Batman, trying to keep up. Batman had an urgency to his step, but it could've just been how bad he wanted to get away from the hospital's white beds to its crappy television channels and needles.

"Ba- Mr. Wayne, where are we going?" Robin asked, nearly tripping over his own feet as he darted down the hall.

"We're going back home," the black haired millionaire assured his look alike.

"Which one?" Robin asked curiously.

A single glance from his 'father' told him which one. Robin tried to ignore the idiocy he felt inside, but it was hard to. As they passed the receptionist's desk, Robin saw the nice nurse who had let him go see Batman, even though it was past visiting hours. He waved to her. She laughed and grinned at him, waving at him. There was something so familiar about her and her three inch white heels, but he couldn't think of it. He and Batman walked outside and Batman led the way to the parking lot.

"Where are we going? Isn't the 'car' back at 'home'?" Robin asked, confused.

Batman shook his head. "No, I have another that Clark was nice enough to bring up."

Robin smiled. He had almost forgotten about the decoy car. That car had taught him how to drive. He ran forward when he saw it and pulled open the passenger side's door, climbing in swiftly. He buckled his seatbelt and had the door closed before Batman even reached the driver's seat. Batman climbed into his own seat, shooting Robin a confused look.

"Why are you so jumpy?" he asked the boy.

Robin set a hand on his neck.

"I… It's not important right now," he lied, smiling at Batman.

Batman shook his head slowly and buckled his seatbelt before putting the keys in the ignition and started the car.

"You sure? It's going to be a long drive and I've got plenty of time…" Batman offered.

Robin pulled his 'Robin' face, but shook his head.

"Nah, it can… it can wait," he decided.

As Batman began to pull out of the hospital parking lot, a question rose in Robin's mind.

"Hey, Batman?" he asked nervously.

Batman glanced at him briefly to tell him to continue talking.

"You said… you told me earlier that you thought I was dead… why?"

Batman went silent and pulled his own 'Robin' face, trying to decide a way to phrase it. He didn't want Robin to go after the Joker. He didn't want to risk losing basically his whole world to something he could've possibly prevented.

"I… you didn't answer your communicator and..." he frowned. "I just overreacted."

"But what about the note I found this morning?" Robin blurted out.

Batman jumped. "What note?"

"The one beside your bed."

Robin pulled a white note from his pocket.

"'I enjoyed your company last night. We really should do this more often. Tell your boy that I'm sorry I missed him. He really should come over for a visit. It's ever so lonely at home. I'll be seeing you soon. Love, Jack** [1],**'" Robin read aloud.

Batman paled for a second and held the steering wheel tighter. He took a deep breath.

"I'll tell my story when you tell yours," he said simply.

Robin tucked the note back in his pocket and leaned back in his seat.

"Then looks like both of us are going home clueless," he announced, folding his arms over his chest and closing his eyes beneath his shades.

Bruce Wayne laughed silently at the boy he adopted four years ago. He had never pictured Richard would end up like this. It wasn't like he was complaining though. Suddenly, a motorcycle tore past the car, a feminine scream coming from it.

"Damn kids these days," he mumbled under his breath, pressing harder on the accelerator.

Robin had to bite his lip to keep from grinning.

XxXxX

Superboy slammed the motorcycle to a halt. Megan forgot how to let go of him. She still held on tight, terrified.

"We're here," he reminded her.

She took the hint and forced her arms to let go. She climbed off of the motorcycle, glad that she was able to change her skin color to pale. She helped Superboy pick up Kaldur and together, the two of them hauled him inside, fast as they could. Megan's arms were sore from holding on so tight, but she sucked it up and hoped she'd have enough strength for the ride back. When they were inside, they got plenty of stares from the people in the waiting room, but not for the reasons one would think.

For one, both of them were extremely red faced. For two, both of their hair was extremely messed up, as were their clothes. It looked suspicious. They ignored the stares though, and Superboy ran up to one of the nurses, dropping Kaldur. Megan winced as all of his weight fell onto her arms. She did her best to hold him up though.

"Please, you have to help our friend," Superboy told a dark haired nurse.

The nurse nodded and quickly picked up her phone.

"Gurney to the waiting room," she said quickly.

Superboy glanced back at Megan. She gently laid Kaldur down on the ground, her arms giving out. She walked over to Superboy and sighed.

"He'll be okay, won't he?" Megan asked, worried.

Superboy didn't answer. He just watched several doctors come into the room and put Kaldur's body onto the gurney and quickly cart him off. Megan bit her lip sadly and turned around to a nurse behind her. The nurse had light brown hair, a knee high white dress and a pair of three inch high heels.

"Um, have you seen a boy with a gray **[2] **hoodie, black hair and sunglasses, about thirteen years old here?" Megan asked the nurse.

The nurse grinned as she recognized Megan and Superboy.

"The charming young boy who came here to see his father… yes, he and his father left not to long ago," the nurse said in a high, almost squeaky voice.

Megan nodded. "Thank you."

She turned to Superboy.

"Should we stay here or go home?" she asked him.

"Let's go get the others and tell them about Kaldur," he decided.

Megan nodded and the two of them headed out to the motorcycle again. Before Superboy could get on, Megan stopped him.

"I'm driving," she insisted.

Superboy laughed. "Alright, fine, you're driving."

With a smile playing on her lips, Megan mounted the motorcycle seat. Superboy climbed up behind her and wrapped his strong, muscled arms around her. Her smile grew into a grin as she drove away from the hospital. She definitely liked driving better.

**[1] I looked it up and in the 1989 movie, they called the Joker 'Jack Napier'. **

**[2] Yes, I know he doesn't wear a gray hoodie in the show, but he has to have some variety, right?**

**Review if you want… It'd be nice you know… Any ideas are welcome… I have a few of my own, but I'm just saying… never mind… **

**-FJ3**


	12. Chapter 12

_**In our family portrait we look pretty happy, we look pretty normal. Let's go back to that. **_**That would be so cute for a picture of Robin and Batman together. Man, P!nk sure knows how to depressen my mood… I have another picture that I meant to get up, but I have so much to work on! Forgive me if this chapter is a bit out of character, but I **_**had**_** to include it. I need some tension and a bit of humor before the depression starts to kick in…**

**Chapter 12:**

"Alright… fine… I…" Robin started, not even half of the way home.

Bruce smiled victoriously to himself.

"Do you want me to pull over to discuss this or can I keep driving?" he teased.

Robin looked down at his Converse sneakers, a frown on his face.

"First… you have to promise me you won't get mad at me…" he said softly.

Bruce shot him a sideways glance, confused.

"I can't promise that," Bruce reminded him.

Robin clenched his hands tightly. He seemed to be at a mini war within his head, but it was over fast.

"Then at least try not to yell too loudly at me… Alright… as you know, I didn't have my communicator when the team and I all went out on a… vacation…" he began.

"Yes, I remember."

Guilt and nervousness built up inside Robin, but he forced himself to continue.

"Everyone else got the call from Superman and they panicked, pulling me along with them to the motorcycles. I mounted up, like all of them and I asked what was wrong. When Wa-… Kid Flash told me that Superman had found your body, I panicked. I was scared and upset, so I sped off as fast as I could," he continued.

Batman seemed surprised. _I was scared and upset._ That wasn't like Robin. But then again, in the past 24 hours, nothing was how it was supposed to be. Robin swallowed hard.

"When I got… back to Mount Justice, I looked around for you… but I was… I was already in tears and… and I was panicking. I saw the Flash and the Green Arrow talking to themselves and they sounded worried. I ran off to my room and I saw it was trashed and there was… I saw pieces of black cloth covered in blood everywhere. I thought… I thought you had fought in there and I… I kind of collapsed and… I lost it…" he was trying to phrase things carefully.

"Lost it?" Bruce repeated, confused.

"Broke down… started uh… well, I started, uh, crying," he said the last part softly, but Batman heard.

He jumped in surprise. Robin had cried… over him? That was amazing and somehow heartbreaking at the same time. Then Robin set a hand on the wheel, surprising Batman even more.

"Now… please pull over," he ordered gently.

Batman shrugged and pulled to the shoulder of the road. He turned the car off and turned to face Robin. Robin refused to meet his eyes, but he had never truly been able to meet Batman's eyes for too long, especially when he was hiding something.

"Please… please try to understand that… I was mad at my… I blamed myself for suggesting the team to take a vacation, so I thought I… I thought I was the reason you got poisoned… I was losing it in a matter of speaking," Robin sounded on the verge of panicking, but he held his ground.

Batman's eyes widened as he caught on. "What'd you do?"

"Kid Flash was trying to comfort me and I got mad at him for being there… he… he called me Robin and I flipped out. I told him I didn't want to be Robin… I wanted to go home… I… I was heartbroken…"

"Richard, look me in the eyes," Batman ordered.

Robin slowly brought his head up and his eyes met Batman's. He winced but he forced himself not to look away as he felt the eye daggers dig into his skull.

"What'd you do?" Batman asked, slowly.

"Wally knows," Robin said, his voice shaking.

"Knows what…?" 

"M-My name, my parents… and if I know him, he's going to keep digging until he hits China," Robin choked out.

Suddenly, he closed his eyes tight, tensed up, turned his head down and held his breath. Batman stared at him, confused.

"What in the _hell_ are you doing?" Batman snapped at him.

Robin cautiously opened an eye. When he saw that Batman hadn't moved, he untensed.

"I thought… I thought you were going to hit me or yell at me…" he explained, just as confused as Batman.

"Why would I yell at you Robin? You were confused, angry and full of guilt. It's a wonder you didn't kill yourself. Just… let me talk to him when we get back and I'll settle it all for you."

Robin's eyes widened in surprise. He looked at Batman as if he had a third arm sticking from his forehead and a fist sticking from his chin.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Batman demanded to know as he started up the car again and pulled back out onto the road.

"I broke one of your biggest rules… and you… I'm still conscious," Robin said in disbelief.

"Well, it's illegal to murder you; it's considered child abuse to smack you like I want to and you admitted to it all. I thought I'd spare you the tears," Batman smiled, going fast down the open road.

Robin smiled happily. If he was dreaming, he didn't want to wake up anytime soon.

"I confessed, now it's your turn. What happened to you?" Robin asked, curiously.

Now it was Batman's turn to get a feeling of nervousness. He sighed. He had promised after all and if he broke the promise, Robin wouldn't let him live it down. Well, he probably would, but there'd always be the fact that Robin would feel that Batman didn't trust him and it'd be the day Batman adopted Robin all over again. He gripped the steering wheel tight before he began.

XxXxX

Robin and Batman walked through the garage door into the living room.

"Robin, if you even consider that, I will handcuff you to the Bat mobile and drive from here to Gotham City and back until you get the picture!" Batman threatened.

Robin returned the glare.

"I know how to get out of handcuffs!" he reminded his mentor. "Don't you remember teaching me?"

"Welcome back," Wally cut them off, standing in front of the couch, emotionless.

They froze and looked up at him. Robin waved with a smile. Batman was emotionless.

"I need a word with you, Robin, go back to your room and clean up," Batman told Wally, gesturing Robin to go away.

Before Robin could take a step, Wally held up a hand. "No Robin, I need a word with you. Have a seat."

Confused, Robin came around to the couch and sat down. Batman walked around the couch too and shot Kid Flash a glare.

"Robin, go to your room," he ordered.

Robin stood to his feet.

"Sit down!" Kid Flash yelled at him, causing him to sit back down.

Batman shot a glance at Kid Flash that would make the average person flee in terror. The Kid Flash wasn't feeling very average though. He returned the glare.

"Who do you think you are?" Batman growled at the red head, gesturing with a single hand for Robin to go away.

Before Robin even stood up, Wally gestured for him to stay. Robin, now completely confused, brought his knees to his chest and hid his face in his hands, wishing to disappear.

"I'm Wally, you're Batman, and he's Richard Grayson," Wally shot.

Batman tensed up.

"Ah, there we are, I have your attention," Wally smiled. "Now, you sit down."

Batman looked offended almost.

"I am not going to-."

"Sit. Down." Wally ordered through gritted teeth.

Batman rolled his eyes and took a seat beside Robin, pulling his hands away from his eyes.

"Make this fast red head," Batman ordered.

Wally nodded. "Naturally."

He took a seat on the coffee table so he was right in front of them.

"Robin, I have many questions for you and Batman both and I want to know the answers. I'm sick and tired of not knowing anything! I'm tired of your guy's lies! Tell me the truth for once!" Wally begged.

"You want the truth?" Robin challenged, hurt in his voice.

Wally nodded. "Yeah, did you not just hear me?"

"Alright, ask away."

"I know everything already."

"Then what do you need to know?" Robin snapped.

"Just answer my questions," Wally said, his voice equally as venomized.

Batman set a hand on Robin's shoulder, but Robin shrugged it off.

"If this asshole wants to know the truth, I say we teach him," Robin growled, obviously in a bad mood.

Wally felt the venom that radiated from Robin's bite. It stung, but he had to know.

"Your name is Richard John Grayson, true or false?"

"True," Robin said.

"Your parents are Mary and John Grayson."

"True."

"You were in the circus as a trapezist in an act called 'The Flying Graysons'."

"True."

The questions seemed to be simple enough.

"Your parents died because of faulty wiring in the trapeze."

"False," there was enough murder in Robin's voice right there to kill a whole army.

"Your parents are dead."

"True."

"They died in the circus."

Robin hesitated.

"True."

"They died because of faulty wiring."

"False."

"They died because of the wiring."

"True."

Wally didn't like hearing that.

"Make up your mind! Did they die by the wiring or not?" he snapped.

If Robin was a mutant, he was sure beams of red lasers would shoot through his eyes and kill his best friend at that very moment. Instead of answering, he stood up off the couch and stormed off towards his room. Batman stood to his feet and glared at Wally.

"Learn when to stop digging kid. Just remember: no matter how hard you dig on an attempt to get to China, the center of the Earth is molten lava and you won't come out alive."

And with that, Batman stalked off to find Robin again, to comfort him. Then the door opened and Megan and Superboy walked in. Wally looked over at them, anger still pouring off of him in waves. The whole room was like an ocean of anger. Megan shivered.

"Did we interrupt something?" she asked.

Wally got to his feet roughly and stormed off towards his room.

"No, nothing! Everything is just _peachy_!" he snapped.

Megan and Superboy exchanged glances.

"Something tells me that Robin's home," Superboy muttered.

**End of this chapter. Watching Naruto and in love (: I just wish they'd focus more on Naruto… Well, sorry this chapter sucked. I didn't want to have Robin explain the whole murder thing before… Heh, never mind… I can't tell you. Buh bye! **

**-FJ3**


	13. Chapter 13

**Just read Naruto 527 and I'm quite frankly pissed. So they got a curse set on them so if they said the word they used most, they'd get their souls captured and they knew it! So the first stupid guy goes and says 'TOO HOT!' when he gets hit by the fire and he's gone. Good riddance. The chika says **_**nothing**_ **and her word was 'cool' and she gets her soul sucked off… Then the other guy, my favorite, gets the taboo and he knows his word is 'dull'. That's where it ended, but I have faith in him, but he's screwed. Aren't we all?**

**Chapter 13: [BAD NUMBER! BAD NUMBER!]**

"_Say what you mean, tell me I'm right! And let the sun rain down on me! Give me a sign! I wanna believe! Whoa oh ohhh ohh! Mona Lisa! You're guaranteed ta run this town! Whoa oh ohhh ohh! Mona Lisa!" _Brendon Urie's voice blasted through the head phones to Wally's MP3 player.

He closed his eyes angrily, as he lay on his bed. He tried to drown his anger out in music, but that never worked well for him. This was all Batman's fault. If he hadn't forced Robin to keep quiet about his past, none of this would've happened. Not even Brendon Urie's voice could calm him down though. His insides were riddled with anger, smoke, 24 feet of small intestine, 80,000 miles of blood vessels, a brain, 206 bones, over 600 muscles and a bunch of other stuff that really didn't matter to him.

He folded his arms over his chest and opened his eyes again to stare at the ceiling. He was sure that his eye daggers would've tore a huge chunk from the wall and squished him flat, but the ceiling stayed intact and his body remained unsquished. Some part of him wanted to go apologize to Robin and the other half wanted to beat the living shit out of him until he made sense for once, but he wasn't listening to either half. All he was listening to was 'The Ballad of Mona Lisa' by Panic! At the Disco, their newest song. He had never really been a huge fan, but Brendon had a good voice.

A knock sounded at his door, but he couldn't hear it. Instead, he just continued to mouth the song to himself.

"_Mona Lisa… Please to please ya…_" he mouthed, the words flowing in and out his ears.

The knock sounded again, louder. Wally still couldn't hear it though. Even if he did, he would've ignored it. He wasn't in the mood for company. This time, the door opened and Megan walked through the door. She walked over to him, but the red head didn't notice her for the first time since they met. He was still lost in his own distant thoughts. Megan gently removed his head phones.

"Wally," she said softly.

The Kid Flash blinked in surprise at the sudden change in sound. One second he was listening to a song and the next he heard a voice. He turned, saw Megan, and everything was much better. He sat up quickly.

"Hey babe, what's up?" he asked quickly.

Megan had to bite her tongue to keep from rolling her eyes.

"Kaldur's in the hospital," Megan explained.

Wally didn't look all too surprised.

"What'd fish boy do this time?" he laughed to himself.

Megan looked offended. What was wrong with him? When her and Superboy got home, he was in a horrible mood and now he had a sick, sadistic sense of humor? Well… his humor always had been like that, but he'd never called Aqualad 'Fish Boy' before. That was a first.

"We're not sure. We found him this morning in his room, passed out," Megan told him.

"Maybe he partied a little too hard last night?" Wally suggested, winking at her.

Megan felt a shiver run down her spine.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked him, offended almost.

Wally shrugged.

"I dunno, this, that, you, me, Supes… Mostly Robbie boy, but I dunno." He laughed.

"What did Robin do to you?" Megan asked, confused.

She took a wary step back. Wally pursed his lips in thought.

"Stupid orphan wouldn't answer my damn questions and Batman had to cut in."

"O-Orphan?" Megan repeated.

"Uh, child with no parents; child with no one left to stay with… uh…" he trailed off, trying to find another definition.

"I know what it means," Megan snapped.

Wally smiled at that. "Of course you do."

Megan took a deep, angry breath.

"How'd you find out that Robin is one?" she asked, resisting the urge to slap him.

"Some studying, poking, prodding… you know, the usual way you learn stuff."

Megan clenched her hands into tight fists and she swallowed hard.

"Did he tell you?" she tried again.

Wally laughed and reached for his headphones.

"Wouldn't you like to know babe?"

Megan's urges caught the better of her and she couldn't hold back. The urge was too strong.

"Forgive me for this," she muttered before slapping him.

The red head jumped in surprise. He set a hand to his face. It hadn't hurt and Megan knew that, but he was surprised she had actually struck him.

"Thanks," he said softly. "I needed that."

"Now, I'm going back to the hospital to see Kaldur. Are you coming or not?"

Wally stood to his feet and took off his MP3 player, turning it off.

"_Nothing wrong with just a taste of what you paid for…"_ the MP3 player sang out, just before it shut off.

"I'm coming."

XxXxX

Robin closed his eyes stubbornly.

"Batman, just go back to the others. I'm okay," he frowned.

"Robin, you have to promise!"

"I'm not promising you anything!" Robin said crossly.

"Robin! Promise me right now that you won't go after him!" Batman demanded.

Robin opened one eye cautiously.

"But Batman…" he whined.

"No! The League and I will take care of the Joker. You just worry about your team," Batman ordered.

Robin sat up angrily.

"Batman, this is what you trained me for! The Joker obviously wants to fight me, so I say we give him what he wants!"

Batman sighed. "That's what he wants. He knows if he gets ride of you, I'll be vulnerable. You have to promise me, right here, right now, that you will NOT go after him."

Robin sighed.

"I… I promise," he said, defeated.

"I don't mean like your Tony Zucco promise. I mean a real promise. If you break this promise, I'm perfectly willing to take you back to the orphanage," Batman threatened.

Robin's heart dropped like the ball that drops every year at Times Square. He winced.

"You wouldn't!" he cried.

Batman knew he would never even consider it, but he had to tell Robin something that would keep him away from the Joker.

"I would. Now, _promise_ me you won't go after him."

"I-I promise!" Robin claimed, trying to mask the fear in his voice.

He didn't want to go back to the orphanage. He had spent less than two hours there and he feared returning. He hated it there. It smelt like death, sorrow and broken dreams. Batman saw the truth in Robin's eyes and nodded. He tousled the boy's black hair with a soft smile.

"I… See you later," Batman muttered, getting up off of his bed.

And with that, Batman left Robin's still trashed room to go where ever Batman goes to blow off stress. Superboy entered his room just as Batman left it.

"Robin, it's Kaldur-," he began.

Robin was on his feet before Superboy could continue. He ran up to the tall Superman look alike.

"What happened?"

"Can you walk and talk?"

Robin nodded with a smirk. "And much, much more."

Superboy smiled. "Then put your skills to work. We have to get to the hospital."

Robin didn't need anymore urging. He tore down the hall, Superboy right beside him.

**Meh, short I know, but I'm leaving in a few minutes for dinner so deal with it. **_**Nothing's wrong with just a taste of what you paid for… ~ **_

**-Fj3**


	14. Chapter 14

**So here I was, eating my Frosty Mini Wheats in a bowl without milk, about to update, when I decided to check the reviews for this story. When I saw the number, I officially choked on my Frosty Mini Wheats. Now, my throat stings like hell, my breath smells all sweet and frosty and I can't stop laughing. My Dad thinks I've officially lost it… I love you too Daddy… Heh… OVER 2 FRIKKIN HUNDERD! YESSSSSSSS! OH YEAH! SQUID GUN! *Break dances, chokes on another piece of cereal* All choking aside, time to update!**

**Chapter… 14:**

Robin practically leapt into the seat on Miss Martian's ship. When its strange tentacle like seat belt closed over him, he shivered in disgust. He really didn't like that seat belt. He pretended as if he didn't mind though and tried to ignore the fact that Wally was sitting beside him. But the Kid Flash never let things go that easily. He turned to Robin, cupped his own face with both hands and gave a super goofy grin. Robin slowly turned to face the red head.

Neither of them were prepared for what was about to happen. When Robin saw Wally's face, just as Megan got the ship into the air, he burst into a fit of laughter. Wally laughed at Robin's pathetic girlish laughs and soon, the two were practically puking with laughter, in tears. Superboy shot them a suspicious glance.

"What's so funny?" he asked, confused.

"It's…" Robin started, but he burst into another fit of laughter. "It's his face!"

His voice came out in a little squeak causing the two to laugh harder. Megan glanced down at them, smiling softly. It was nice to see them both acting like their regular selves. When they both finally calmed down, Robin had to take off his sun glasses to wipe the tears from his eyes. His hoodie sleeve masked his eyes, but Wally didn't care. He had to wipe laughter tears from his own eyes.

"Dude, what was so funny?" Wally asked Robin.

Robin had already slid his shades on.

"It was your face! You had the... you had a strange face…"

Robin imitated it, pulling a retarded smile, cupping his face in his hands and crossing his eyes. Wally couldn't see Robin's eyes, but he had a feeling they were crossed. It was Robin's style. Wally laughed at Robin's face.

"You can't capture the essence of me Robbie boy and you know it," Wally teased.

Robin smiled and for a moment, he almost forgot everything that had happened before. But then, he remembered and frowned. Wally noticed and frowned too, but he didn't look away from the Boy Wonder.

"You never answered my question earlier," Wally reminded him.

"There's no reason," Robin argued.

"Answer me or I'll have to interrogate you all over again in front of all of them later," Wally threatened.

Robin winced.

_Damn_ he thought to himself. _I really shouldn't have told him. _

After a little bit of silence, Wally got angry.

"You going to explain yourself?"

Robin sighed. "Fine… What did I say that you didn't understand?"

"I know that your…" he stopped when he noticed that Superboy and Megan were looking at them, confused.

He dropped his voice to a super soft whisper.

"I know that your parents are dead," he began. "You said no."

Robin bit his lip hard for a second.

"You said that they…" his voice faltered, "d-died in an accident. They didn't. They were… m-murdered."

Wally raised his eyebrows in surprise. Robin turned away from him again, obviously upset about the subject.

"Satisfied?" he asked, venom laced on his lips.

Wally nodded guiltily.

"I… Ye-… N-N…" he frowned. "I guess."

Robin sighed, closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, turning his head away from his friend's.

_What's wrong with Robin?_ Megan asked Wally telepathically.

He jumped in surprise, still not used to it. He set a hand to his head, deciding to keep Robin's secret.

_Uh… i-it's nothing_ he told her, using a line Robin used a lot.

He hoped she might connect the quote, but she didn't seem to. She just seemed even more confused. Now Wally felt bad for not telling her, but he wouldn't rat out his… best… friend… It was almost hard to grasp that after all this, he still considered Robin his best friend. He had yelled at the guy, questioned him and he still…

_It's because he's a good guy Wally. He'd never hate you and you know that. Maybe that's why you still see him as a close friend? _Megan suggested.

Wally winced. He forgot she was listening. He closed his eyes and tried to block her off so he could think about… well, things… without her listening in. Megan could feel him pushing her away mentally and she took the hint. Instead, she peered inside of Robin's head, still managing to keep the ship on a direct course through the skies. Superboy noticed the familiar look in her eyes and let her continue, not wanting to interrupt.

Megan poked around inside Robin's mind without his noticing. She was able to do that, same as she could lift 100 tons, reverse amnesia and lose all of her powers just by fire. She searched around, almost feeling guilty as she skimmed his memories, trying to find his more recent. As she skimmed, she saw brief images.

She saw blood, she saw tears, she saw an honored man with black hair who was strong and wore a tuxedo, she saw an evil man with murder in his eyes, she saw Robin's mask, she saw a strange Clown-like man and she saw a brief image of two graves. She recognized nothing she saw, except for Robin's mask. Angry, she continued to search until she caught a sight of the familiar one. All she could sense though was pain. His pain and anger blinded the memory and pushed her out.

Megan jumped in surprise. Superboy shot her a worried glance. She offered him a small smile and assured him that everything was alright. Robin didn't though. He turned around and shot her a glare behind his shades. He turned back around.

_STAY OUT OF MY HEAD_ he yelled at her in his mind.

Megan looked down at her feet, embarrassed.

_Sorry… I was curious_ she admitted.

She could hear a mental growl and she focused on the steering wheel again. The Martian girl felt horrible. She had been just really curious. She wouldn't have had to poke and prod if Robin hadn't kept everything to himself. If he had just trusted them, even a little, she wouldn't have gotten curious.

_Yes you would've_ Robin's voice projected into her head. _People are _always_ curious. Even if you thought you knew everything, you'd still be attempting to probe my mind. _

Megan sighed and cut the connection for real. She just wished they could drive a bit faster.

XxXxX

Kaldur sat up weakly in the hospital bed, confused. Where was he? He looked around. He saw the heart monitor, the IV and the oxygen mask, but that didn't tell him. No, he didn't lose his mind and no, he's not stupid. He knows what a hospital is. He just didn't know if he was in a hospital or an infirmary. He had been to the League's infirmary and it looked very similar to this.

"Morning Sleeping Beauty," Wally greeted him.

Kaldur blinked in surprise and looked over to see the team sitting there beside him. Well, not all of them were sitting. Robin was sitting in a chair at his feet and Wally stood behind him, his hands holding him up by gripping the back of Robin's chair. Megan stood, Superboy beside her. They all looked pretty worried. Kaldur tried to remember why he was here. Then he remembered a bit or a piece or two.

"I… don't eat the pie in the refrigerator at home. I think it's poisoned," Kaldur smiled weakly.

Robin's eyes widened and he forgot how to speak.

"P-Pie? What kind?" he asked.

"Almond," Wally answered. "It's been there since last night."

Robin's eyes widened.

"Not almond," he told Wally. "It's laced with Cyanide."

"Cyanide?" Wally asked in surprise.

Robin stood to his feet quickly.

"Be right back Kaldur," he apologized, running down the hall quickly.

The dark skinned boy didn't really think twice of it, nor did the nurses as they watched the thirteen year old tore down the hallway. He bounded towards the receptionist's desk. He knew there'd be no use trying to reach Batman on his communicator. He never had it on him when he was at work. He approached the desk and the nice nurse lady who had taken him to see Batman. She grinned when she saw him.

"Oh, hello. What do you need?" she asked.

"Can I use your phone?" he asked shyly.

The nurse nodded. "Of course sweety. Dial 9 before you enter the number."

Robin smiled. "Thank you."

He picked up the phone, hit 9, and then typed in the number for Wayne Tech. The phone rang three times before someone answered.

"Wayne Tech Incorporated, how may I help you?" the receptionist asked.

"Um hi, is Mr. Wayne busy?" Robin asked nervously.

"No, he just got out of a press conference. Do you need to talk to him?"

"Yes please," Robin smiled, trying to be as polite as he could.

"Who is this?"

Robin clapped a hand around his mouth so only the receptionist could hear his answer.

"I am Mr. Wayne's son, Richard. Tell him it's important," Robin begged.

"Right away, please hold."

XxXxX

"Mr. Wayne, your son is on the line," the receptionist called to Bruce Wayne.

"My… oh, Richard," he smiled.

"He says it's important."

Batman's smile faded and he walked over to the phone.

"Hello?" he said.

"B- Uh… dad…?" Robin said uncomfortably.

Batman sensed something important about what Robin wanted.

"Yes Richard?"

"You know about the pie that Uncle Jack left you?" Robin crypted his words so Batman would understand.

Bruce understood. "Yes, what about it?"

"Kaldur had some too. I called too apologize. I couldn't stop him," Robin's voice sounded strained.

Bruce's eyes widened.

"Is he okay?"

"He… yeah, so far he is. When do you get off work? I want to go visit Uncle Jack and _thank _him for the pie personally."

Bruce sensed the anger behind Robin's masked tone.

"Richard, not today. I work really late and I'm pretty sure Uncle Jack doesn't want a visit that late."

"But-," Robin began to argue.

"We'll discuss it more when I get home. Just… Just wait. Maybe tomorrow we can go visit him."

Bruce heard Robin sigh angrily.

"Alright… dad… I-I guess I'll see you when you get home. Good bye."

Robin sounded upset.

"Good bye."

Batman hung up the phone.

"What was so important?" the receptionist asked Bruce.

Bruce smiled. "Oh, Richard just really wants to go visit his Uncle."

With that, he walked back to his office, really hoping Robin would listen to him for once.

XxXxX

Robin set the phone down. He looked up at the nurse, sadly.

"Thanks anyway," he smiled.

She grinned sweetly at him.

"Oh, anytime."

Then Robin noticed something about her. He gestured to the left side of his face.

"You have a bit of powder on your face," he told her.

The nurse set a hand to her face and frowned. She wiped at her face and even more powder appeared. It was white and chalky.

"Did I get it?" she asked.

Robin shook his head. "You just spread it around."

The nurse giggled. "Silly me."

She wiped harder at her face, even at the corner of her lips. All that did was reveal even more white powder. It also made her lips look _bright_ red. For a second, Robin thought she looked familiar, but he shrugged it off. There were over 6 billion people in the world. It had to be just a coincidence that she looked familiar. She also seemed to have a problem with what looked like baby powder. Robin didn't think of it much though. Instead, he just turned around and headed back towards Kaldur's hospital room.

**Just watched the new Young Justice and I had a mini heart attack when I saw the bugs go for Wayne Tech. Then when Robin said "Then they'll know…" "Know what?" "Nothing…" I KNOW WHAT HE MEANT! Wayne Tech… Bruce Wayne? I bet in that system, it says who Batman and Robin really are! And did you notice how the security system reacted to his voice when he called out something and the door went up? Oh yes, I'm a fan girl **

**I HATE THE NEW CHICK! She flirts with Superboy, annoys Kid Flash, has an arrow on her boobs pointing to her face, she's obviously a bad chick and I HATE HER! RAH! She should've stopped the bad guy! The bad guy caused a really cute Robin moment and deserves to be interrogated. Stupid chika… **

_**Isn't this exactly where you like me? I'm exactly where you like me, you know. Praying for love in a lap dance, and paying in naivety. Praying for love and paying naivety. Ohhh…. **_

**-FJ****3**


	15. Chapter 15

**Anyone know what 4 stood for in the 'Wayne Tech Override RG 4'? I know what Wayne Tech is, I know the Override, I know the RG [Richard Grayson], but what does the 4 stand for? You think it refers to what kind of override? It could… I mean… **

**Chapter 15:**

Robin swiftly tossed the cyanide laced pie into the trash can, watching, clearly amused, as the icing splattered off onto the side of the trash bag. The kitchen clock read 10:26 PM and Robin wasn't tired at all. Even if he was, he was going to stay up. He had to kill time until 11. At that time, Batman would have gotten off work and driven home, got into his resting clothes. Then he would call Robin. Robin usually stayed up until 11 each night. That's about the time that the 'good night' call would come. For him, it was just like some kids felt when their parents tuck them in at night or kiss them good night. Getting a single call always cheered him up, even if by just a small fraction.

Normally at this time, he'd be on the couch next to Kid Flash, watching the crap on TV that's on at the time. Not today though. Wally had turned in early, as had the rest of the team. So, at the moment, Robin was the only one awake in the whole 'house'. He could've been watching TV, but he was nice enough to not want to wake anyone else up. Even if he had turned the TV down, it made strange static noises when the volume was below 10. Even if you muted it, the sound played and it was bothersome. So instead, Robin sat in the kitchen, watching the clock, listening to the MP3 player he had 'borrowed' from Wally.

The first thing he noticed about Wally's choice in music was that it was random. He had Flyleaf, P!nk, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, Evanescence, Linkin Park and many others. The genres included everything except for Orchestra, Opera, Instrumentals and Jazz. Robin didn't mind though. So far, the songs had been pretty good. He only had in the left ear plug though, keeping the other ear empty to listen for his communicator.

"_It ain't easy, growing up in World War 3, never knowing what love could be you'll see. I don't want love to destroy me like it has done my family_," Robin distantly heard.

He leaned forward on the kitchen table, resting his head in his hands. The wait always killed him, but the ring on his communicator would always bring him back from the dead. He closed his eyes softly. He was bored and the boredom caused him to drift off. Before he actually fell asleep, he snapped open his eyes and sprung from his seat at the table. He walked to the refrigerator and opened it. He grabbed the 2 liter of Dr. Pepper from the top row. He brought it onto the counter and slowly opened it, amused by the sharp hiss it made when he took off the top.

Standing on his tippy toes, he got a cup down from the cabinets above him. He then poured himself half a cup of Dr. Pepper. Then Robin put the pop away and took a seat at the kitchen table, bringing the cup with him. Normally, he wouldn't resort to caffeine to keep him awake and alert, but he had 26 minutes now left to waste.

XxXxX

The nurse stared into the mirror for a minute. She noticed the powder on her face and grinned.

"Such a shame," she muttered, ripping the mask off her face.

Then, the Joker stared at his own face in the mirror. It was nice to the creepy face that belonged to him, compared to that of a nurse. He never had liked nurses… or doctors for that matter. The Joker laughed merrily before walking out of the ladies' room in his white dress and heels, getting stares from nurses passing by. He didn't mind though. Their looks were enough to please him for the moment. He just had one more day to wait until he got what he _really_ wanted.

Well, he couldn't get a five foot golden gummy bear, but a fight with Robin would be pretty satisfying too… hopefully. He still really wanted a golden five foot gummy bear. Maybe after he fought Robin, he could turn him into a five foot golden gummy bear. That would be amazing. Then he would be pleased… and he'd have a five foot gummy bear. Yeah, he liked that idea.

XxXxX

Robin took a weak glance at the clock. It read 10:55. He yawned.

"Come on…" he muttered, looking at his communicator angrily.

Then, to his utter amazement, it went off. He grinned, took the ear phones from his ear and answered the call. Bruce Wayne's face popped up. Robin smiled.

"Hey," he smiled.

Bruce nodded, returning the smile.

"Robin, I promise, tomorrow," he assured him.

Robin nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"You won't go off without me, will you?"

Robin shook his head. "Nah, no point. I don't wanna get adopted. I've seen those movies and I'd rather not…"

Bruce raised an eyebrow. He laughed softly.

"Alright; I trust you. Don't betray that Robin. Do you want to bring your team?"

Robin didn't hesitate as he shook his head.

"This is between us and the Joker. I don't want them to get hurt."

"You don't trust them."

It was a statement, not a question.

"No, I do! It's just-," Robin began.

"You don't trust them," Bruce cut him off. "Robin, I know you better then you think. I've learned your traits. You don't trust them and you don't trust most people."

Robin shrugged. "Yeah, okay. I don't trust them entirely. What of it?"

"Why not?" Bruce asked curiously.

"Same reason you didn't want me to tell them who I am. I want to protect them."

Batman smiled. "Good reason."

Robin smiled. "I learned from the best."

Batman laughed. "You suck up. Good night."

"Good night," Robin smiled, reaching over to shut off the communicator.

"Wait…"

Robin froze. "Yeah?"

"_Please_ don't go without me tomorrow."

Robin smiled. "Quit worrying. I promise I won't go. Cross my heart and… well, you know how that goes…"

Bruce didn't look so sure, but he nodded. "One last thing."

"Yes?"

"On the phone… you called me Dad…"

Robin laughed. "You know you're not my 'father'. You just adopted me. You're my mentor."

"And you are my protégé," there was a dash of sorrow in his voice.

"Don't be like that, I was kidding. Yeah, I guess… maybe I… I guess you're my dad… I-I don't really know how else to explain it all," Robin assured him.

Bruce's face lightened.

"Neither do I. Good night for real this time."

Robin nodded. "Good night for real."

He switched off the communicator and walked to his room. He had cleaned it up earlier. The computer was still broken, but he was going to swap it out with the one in the backroom soon. He walked to his bed, set his communicator beside him on the dresser and sat there for a minute. The black haired boy was nearly invisible in the dark room. He slid off his sunglasses and set them in front of his communicator. He then slipped his hoodie over his head and tossed it across the room, not really caring where it landed. He considered changing out of his jeans, but he decided against it. He climbed into his bed and pulled the blankets up to his shoulders and lay down.

He turned so he was facing his door and rested his head on his pillow. He winced as his head hit a hard object, but he didn't get mad. He simply pushed the object away from his head, closed his eyes and let sleep capture him in its grasp.

XxXxX

"Oh! This is taking too long!" the Joker complained mostly too himself.

Then he laughed strangely, as his voice echoed back.

"Nonsense! The longer we wait, the better it will be!" he told himself.

He could already see the Robin styled gummy bear. Just the thought made his mouth water. But he was patient. It'd be worth the wait.

**I really want a five foot blue gummy bear. Blue candy is made of pure caffeine! TEE HEE! They only have one foot high ones though at Hot Topic for like, thirty bucks! ARGH! D':**


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry this is late. Had a busy day. Remember the hard object beneath Robin's pillow? Keep it in mind. **

**Chapter 16:**

Robin scooted back quickly across the cave floor, his heart pounding.

"No! Y-You can't be in here! It's impossible!" he cried.

He looked around desperately, trying to find Batman. He needed help. The Joker kept slowly approaching him, towering at an unimaginable height. The cave ceiling must've gotten higher or he must've shrunken, but he wasn't too picky. The Joker laughed a loud, echous laugh that caused Robin's ears to burn. He let out a cry of pain and clapped his hands over his ears.

"Come on Robin. Don't you wanna play?" the Joker giggled.

The sounds caused excruciating pain to Robin's head. He screamed, but kept on scooting back. He had to get away.

"No!" he screamed. "Go away!"

The Joker pulled a huge pie from his pocket and held it out.

"How about some pie?" the Joker offered.

Robin got to his feet and ran as the Joker dropped the pie. It spiraled through the air, the shadow engulfing Robin. He reached for his grappling hook, but to his horror, he saw that it wasn't there. His whole utility belt was gone. When he looked up, he was in a circus tent, wearing a green suit with a big white G on the front. Bandages ran up and down his arms. He choked down a scream of panic.

"How about now? Maybe it'd taste better in a familiar place?" the Joker laughed sadistically.

The pie continued to fall towards him. Robin could smell the cyanide. Suddenly, he saw the trapeze bar. Not knowing what else to do, he ran out and caught it, riding it away. Approaching him on the other trapeze bar was his mother. His heart skipped a beat.

"M-Mom?" he whispered.

"Richard, have some pie," she smiled, her smile stretching to a grin.

Robin's eyes widened. This wasn't possible. The pie, at least 25 feet wide, kept approaching. He heard a crack and looked up quickly. The wire to his trapeze broke. His trapeze bar broke and he begin to fall to the Earth that seemed millions of miles away.

"MOM!" he screamed.

She just kept right on grinning.

"Don't worry Richard, it'll just hurt you. Have some pie," she said again.

Robin screamed, waiting to feel the pain of his bones shattering as he hit the ground, but he never felt it. Instead, he fell on something soft that caused him to bounce once. He looked around. He was in his room. The pie kept on falling.

"Come on Robin," the Joker taunted. "Have some pie."

Robin quickly reached under his pillow, frantic. He pulled out a black gun with a thin and narrow barrel.

"Stop it or I'll shoot!" he threatened.

The Joker just laughed.

"Get out of my room!" Robin cried angrily, firing off three different tranquilizer darts.

All three hit the Joker in his chest, but it didn't seem to faze him. In fact, it just caused his grin to literally turn upside down, rotating 180 degrees on his face and he looked furious. In a second, he had Robin pinned to the wall by his throat.

"Have some pie," the Joker growled, his voice at least 100 octaves lower.

"N-No…" Robin choked out.

He clawed at the Joker's hands, but they just seemed to tighten the more he struggled. Robin's face began to change colors.

"N… N…" Robin struggled, losing air.

The Joker's eyes flamed over red and he glared into Robin's uncovered blue eyes.

"Tell your mother and father I said hello," he ordered, just as Robin started seeing 'stars'.

Then, something happened.

"WAKE UP!" Wally's voice came from the Joker's mouth.

Robin felt tight pressure around his wrists.

"STOP! STOP! ROBIN WAKE UP!"

Robin's eyes opened and several things came to his attention. One, his hands were wrapped tightly around his own throat. Two, Wally was trying to pry them off. Three, the gun lay beside Robin. Four, his butt was cold. Five, the Joker and the pie weren't there. Robin quickly released his hands and gulped air in hungrily. He was so confused. That wasn't real? No, it wasn't. It couldn't have been. Wally sat beside Robin on the bed and waited until his face regained its normal color.

"Are you okay?" he asked, worried.

Robin nodded. "Y-Yeah… I think…"

Wally nodded, then quickly slapped the back of Robin's head. Robin cried out from surprise mostly. He set a hand to his head.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Wally beat Robin to asking it. "Why were you choking yourself?"

"I… It was just… It was in the dream," Robin muttered to himself. "Why are you in here?"

"Batman called for you. Said it was important. I came to wake you up."

Robin sprung to his feet to his closet and began to swiftly change into his costume.

"Where you and Batman off to Richie ole boy?" Wally teased, glad to see his friend was okay.

"Don't call me that," Robin said simply, grabbing his cape from his closet.

"Alright, how about Richard? Or do you prefer Dick?" Wally continued.

"I prefer Robin."

He draped the cape over his shoulders securely before diving to the bottom of his closet, going after his shoes.

"Alright… Robin… where are you guys going?"

"How do you know we're going anywhere?" Robin challenged, wrestling his shoes from his closet floor.

"Why else would you be getting suited up?" Wally replied simply, watching as Robin slipped his shoes on with some difficulty.

"Maybe I don't like wearing my city clothes all the time," Robin suggested, springing to his feet.

He dashed back over to his counter, picked up his mask and slipped it over his eyes.

"Why do you wear a mask anyway? The girls'd be drooling over those eyes," Wally teased him.

Robin rolled his eyes beneath the mask.

"Whatever."

He hooked his utility belt around his waist. Then he turned to the bed and quickly shoved the gun back under the pillow. Wally noticed.

"Why do you have that?" he asked curiously.

"Safety precautions. Some people get _too_ curious," he replied simply before dashing out of the room to answer Batman's call.

XxXxX

"Are you ready?" Batman asked Robin who was nervously fidgeting beside him.

"Yes," Robin insisted. "I… He has to pay for what he's done to you guys."

Batman smiled softly.

"Just be careful. He's smarter than he seems."

Robin nodded. "I know. It's always the crazy ones…"

"Or the wife," Batman added.

Robin laughed. He remembered that day. His face had bruised from getting slapped so hard, but it was totally worth it. The girl was hot, even if she was in her late twenties and married.

"When the Joker gets married, we can deal with that then."

Robin shivered at the thought.

"I feel bad for any lady who even considers being his wife," he laughed.

Batman liked seeing that Robin was happy for now. He knew Robin would get scared later when he saw the Joker, but he wanted Robin to bet at the top of his game.

"You do know that we're just going to arrest him, right?" Batman reminded his sidekick.

Robin went silent. That was what Batman had feared. It couldn't be prevented though. They would stop the Joker and it'd be a happy ending of some sort. Well, that's what he imagined. But when is it ever that easy?

**Every kiss begins with K (: Next chapter is the Joker fight. It was going to be this one, but I liked the idea of a creepy dream so I had to. Forgive me for being myself. **

**-FJ3**


	17. Chapter 17

**Smile though your heart aches, for someone may have fallen in love with your smile, and without it, their heart will ache too. **

**Sort of made that up. Whatcha think? So, Joker battle and others… Tee hee… This might be pretty long. Or not… I'm not sure. **

"You wanted to show us something?" Kaldur asked, following Megan and Superboy into the backroom where Wally was waiting.

"Yes, you could say that," the red head nodded, waiting until they were all in the room.

Once they were, he messed around on the computer until the screen was projected onto the white sheet he had set up in front of the projector.

"A power point?" Superboy asked, sounding repulsed at the idea.

Wally shook his head.

"No, it's got video and pictures and songs and stuff," he shrugged.

He messed around again with the computer, getting the slide show ready. Kaldur pulled out two chairs from beside the treadmill and offered them to Megan and Superboy. Superboy shook his head, but Megan accepted the offer. She and Kaldur took a seat as Superboy stubbornly stood.

"What's this about?" Megan asked, curiously.

"Robin," Wally grinned. "Every little detail about him."

Superboy raised an eyebrow, but he said nothing as he usually did. And with that, Wally began the slide show. The name 'Richard John Grayson' floated onto the screen, along with a picture from a newspaper article from the looks of it. Kaldur leaned back in his chair, amused. This was going to be good.

XxXxX

Robin's heart quickened.

"Are you sure he's going to be here?" he asked, looking around for giant falling pies or towering Jokers nervously.

Batman nodded. "He told me he'd be waiting. He's going to be here."

Robin gently bit his lip. He wasn't as nervous as he seemed. Actually, he was anticipating the fight. He wanted to see the Joker in pain. He wanted the Joker to pay for hurting Batman and Kaldur. He wanted revenge in the best way it's served: cold. Not dead body cold though. He ice cold revenge with a good, un-Cyanide-laced apple pie. Well, he didn't want cold pie though. Pie was horrible when it was cold… unless it was Pumpkin pie, but he wasn't in the mood. Maybe when they won, Batman would take him out for pie at their favorite restaurant. Just the thought made him smile.

Batman glanced at Robin who sat beside him. He had a small smile on his lips and he definitely looked happy. And he looked hungry, but that was less noticeable. Their chances were better with the two of them fighting together, but Batman still felt that they should've called in the Justice League for some back up. If the Joker could defeat Batman without even really trying, that wasn't good.

_No!_ Batman yelled at himself. _He played around with my mind and made me weak. I was only sloppy because I thought he had Robin._

He almost grasped the steering wheel tighter, but he decided against it. He didn't want to scare Robin. Robin was used to his anger, but Robin was happy now and Batman wanted that to remain. The Joker found it fun to mess with people's emotions. It was part of his technique.

"Batman?" Robin's voice snapped Batman's head from the clouds.

"Yeah?"

"Are we doomed?"

Batman's eyes widened in surprised. "Of course not. Where did you get that idea?"

"Last time… well… the Joker kinda kicked your ass… and I'm no better than you. Should we have called in the others?" Robin's voice didn't sound scared, just curious.

Batman masked a smile. It was just like Robin to think the same as he did.

"No, I think we'll be fine. If we start losing horribly, I guess you can call in if you think we need it."

Robin laughed. "So we better call in now."

Batman couldn't help but smile briefly.

"Have some faith in us Robin. We're stronger than him," Batman assured his sidekick.

Robin went silent as he saw Batman pull over the Bat Mobile. He gave Robin a silent nod and the two silently leapt from the car, practically connecting telepathically, minds working in tune. And with that, the two began to advance through the silence, heading to the Joker's 'house', ready to give him what he rightfully deserved. And no, that does not mean a five foot golden gummy Robin.

XxXxX

"No way," Kaldur said, watching the slide show in disbelief.

He never would've suspected that Robin had been harboring all of that beneath his mask[s]. Raven had said that the thought had almost made Robin suicidal, but he never imagined that. And at such a young age too. That was inhumane almost. Superboy's eyes let his surprise shine, instead of speaking out. Megan felt bad and she had to look away. Wally was surprised at their reactions. He had been surprised too, but they all had different. Kaldur was in shock almost, Superboy was surprised and Megan seemed to be heartbroken.

He ran a guilty hand through his red hair, but they had to know eventually. He just wished the news footage had been more pleasant. He knew it was a bit depressing. It had gotten a good shot of Robin though and that's why he had used it. It also had a good shot of the bodies. Wally had to admit that blood wasn't his favorite thing to see, but it was there and couldn't be helped. Guilt ran through his body almost just like his blood. He held it back though and kept watching.

XxXxX

Batman and Robin's feet were silent on the floor, but the Joker knew they were there. He could smell them. They smelt of vengeance. Or maybe it was just him, but either way, he knew they were there. He stood up from his chair and walked towards them, his clown shoes making no effort at all to be quiet.

"Robin? Batman? Is it you I sense?" he asked, his voice echoing throughout his domain.

He received no reply. That caused him to laugh. The laugh rang through his body merrily and activated his sixth sense. He knew this was going to be a good fight. He'd have to bring out the big guns. From his jacket, 'Uncle Jack' pulled out two huge machine guns, all full of comical surprises.

"Let's play a game," he called out, a maniacal laugh following.

In response, a small black ball was thrown in front of him. It exploded, blinding him in dark gray billows of smoke. When it passed, he wasn't injured at all. He just seemed amused.

"Come out and play," he challenged them, releasing the 'safety' of his guns. "I'll count to ten. Then we can play."

He received no answer. He grinned. This was amusing to him.

"One… two… Joker's coming for you," he began, looking around him.

A batarang sprung from the shadows, swiping at the Joker's arm, but it didn't faze him.

"Three… four… over there's the door," he continued, adding his own spin to the Freddy Krueger classic song.

No one ran for the closed door. The Joker's grin widened and he giggled merrily. He surveyed the rafters of the ceiling, looking for the Caped Crusaders.

"Five… six… you're in deep shit…"

"That doesn't rhyme!" Robin's voice rang through the place.

The Joker laughed.

"Fine then, picky boy! Five… six… is this just for kicks?"

"One way to put it," Robin mumbled before verbally disappearing.

The Joker's fingers itched to pull the triggers, amused. He continued to look around.

"Seven… eight… almost too late…"

He spotted a flash of cape in the rafters and he knew it was Robin. His grin widened.

"Nine… Ten… Let's play then!"

He laughed and pulled the triggers, firing water balloons full of something other than water at Robin and Batman. He didn't think he hit them at all, until he heard a pain filled scream that brought happy shivers down his throat. Robin fell from the rafters and landed hard and stopped moving. The Joker, still grinning walked over to him amused.

"Giving up this easily?" he asked, surprised.

Robin didn't move. He didn't even breathe. That had the Joker suspicious. Curiously, he poked Robin with his foot in the stomach. Robin's body moved, but he didn't react.

"Oh Batman, bad move, bringing the lil' tyke. Looks like he has a boo-boo," the Joker teased Batman, where ever he was.

Suddenly, the Joker noticed the open door. He laughed.

"Running away? Oh my, how rude. What kind of father leaves his baby boy in the hands of an idiot?"

"Only the best," Robin growled, plunging a concealed batarang into the 'hole' on the back of the Joker's knee.

The Joker fell to his knees; the batarang still plunged into his knee. Robin grinned softly and pretended to weakly get to his feet and stumble backwards.

"I'm going to kill you," Robin growled, trying to buy time.

The Joker laughed, unable to get up.

"How, by chance, do you plan to do that?"

"Like this," Batman growled, swinging from the rafters with his grappling hook.

He planted his feet on the Joker's back and kicked as hard as he could. The Joker flew forward for a while, slowed down by his face as it rubbed against the floor.

"Clever Battie," the Joker commented, pulling the batarang from his knee hole.

He got to his feet with a stumble.

"You had this all planned, didn't you?"

No one answered him.

"But I bet you didn't plan this, did ya?"

Before anyone could react, Robin crumbled to the ground in a heap. He stopped moving all and all. Even his chest stopped going up and down. Beneath his mask, his eyes darted around furiously beneath his mask, but Batman couldn't see that.

"Robin!" Batman cried, fear lining his insides. "What did you do to him?"

Batman charged forward and tackled the Joker to the ground, pressing him into it by his throat.

"He… if I die, he never wakes up," the Joker choked out.

Batman hesitated, his jaw dropping.

_If I die, he never wakes up._ The words bounced around in his skull.

"REVERSE IT!" Batman screamed, murder lacing his voice.

The Joker just laughed. Batman tightened his hold on the Joker's throat. The Joker stopped laughing for the first time in his life.

"No," he choked out. "Never."

Screams escaped from Robin's lips and his body violently convulsed. He clawed at his face as if there was a creature on it.

"NO!" he screamed. "Stop! Stop! No!"

Batman's hands clenched into fists so tight that his knuckles were white in a second. He punched the Joker as hard as he could, his anger taking over.

"REVERSE IT!"

"NO! NO! DON'T! HELP ME!" Robin sobbed, tears bursting out from beneath his mask.

He repeatedly backwards bashed his head into the floor, clawing at imaginaries on his chest. The Joker now winced, as if he could finally feel pain. The punches gained more power the more Robin struggled.

"I can't reverse it. He got hit by something I just made up. It's a nightmare maker. If he survives the nightmare, he'll wake up. If he doesn't…" the Joker laughed again, long and merrily.

"Get off me! No! No! Oh God no! Stop it!" Robin screamed.

Then his words just cut out and he just kept screaming. Anger consumed Batman like the Phoenix consumed Jean. Suddenly, Batman wasn't there. It was just anger in a bat suit that would stop at nothing to protect its little wounded birdy.

**Weird chapter? Yes. The dream I got the idea for just now and I liked it. Made me giggle at the thought of scaring the crap out of Batman… next chapter is the dream (: Review nicely and Robin might survive… the Joker might not, but still… **

**-Fj3 **


	18. Chapter 18

**This is based on a dream I had a few years ago. Yes, I am obsessed with gummy bears. Thank you for noticing. This nightmare will let my obsession show. Glad you guys like this!**

For Robin, his screams had become almost like a second language to him. They poured from his mouth the same way his blood poured from the open, fresh gashes on his arms. He flung half of the vile creatures across the room off of his arm against the wall ahead of him, but that only made them angrier. A new sea of vile, one foot bears would tackle him to the Earth again, sinking their razor sharp fangs into his body. Sobs came from Robin's now exposed blue orbs, stained red now from the amount of tears they had come into contact with.

"Get off of me!" he sobbed, kicking a row of them off, stumbling away.

He couldn't run because of a huge chunk of his leg they had bitten at. He knew he was losing heavy amounts of blood and he feared he wouldn't last much longer. That initial fear powered Robin to move just a bit faster, but it didn't make the bears let go. They weren't regular bears though. They were gummy bears, colored from red, orange, yellow, green, blue and clear. So far, it seemed that only the red ones attacked him directly, but the other colors would attack the red bears to steal the blood and skin bits from their stomachs.

Just the sight made Robin nauseous, but he couldn't stop running. He had to escape; he had to go back to Batman. He needed help. He wasn't even sure where he was. He just saw concrete everywhere. He was in a concrete hall and that's all he knew. He couldn't find his communicator. If he had, he would've called for help by now. He couldn't find his utility belt either. But if he had it, Robin would seriously consider swallow half of the contents just to end his pain. His body felt as if Jack the Ripper, Jason, Freddy Krueger and Jaws were all going at him at the same time.

Robin continued to run down the hall, throwing three gummy bears off of his arm onto the wall where they exploded into pieces. This wasn't new to him though. He had shattered most of them. It wasn't that easy though. They were like zombies. After being eaten or destroyed, their pieces would merge together again and they'd be back to attack. So Robin knew he had little time before they'd be back. Every step he took, excruciating pain shot up his body, but he had to keep going. He couldn't hold back his sobs and screams of pain though.

The gummy bears seemed to be attracted by his pain and terror, but he couldn't lose it. The suffering was too much just to hide like he usually did. It was easier to hide sorrow or anger or even happiness then to hide pain like this. Robin just kept on stumbling as fast as he could past the concrete, trying hard not to watch the blood that fell from his riverous arms, dripping and pouring onto the concrete behind him. He felt light headed, but he had to escape. He couldn't leave Batman alone. He didn't want that.

"Wally!" he screamed. "Superboy! Megan! Kaldur!"

He got no response. That just made his tears pour harder from his eyes. He was scared beyond belief. He didn't want any of this to be real. He wanted to wake up and be at home with Batman, tucked in, having fallen asleep in front of the fire in the green arm chair, clutching the picture of his parents. He wanted there to be chocolate milk stains around his lips from the night before. He wanted Alfred to be standing beside him and waking up.

"Batman! Help me!" he sobbed, desperate.

He could hear the gummy bears approaching him and his fear grew. He snuck a peek behind him and saw an endless sea of the one foot evil creatures. Their sharp daggers that they called 'teeth' were brightly shown through the light shade of red that counted as their skin. He put all his strength to his feet and just kept running, hoping that the concrete hallway led somewhere that would save him. He knew it had to lead to somewhere he knew because he recognized his outfit.

He was surprised it still fit him, though it wasn't as recognizable now. It was a green leotard basically that had pant legs that hugged his knees tightly. It had a big white G on the front and he had huge, blood soaked bandages up and down his arms. The green leotard now looked red and was in pieces, but that didn't matter. It was still the outfit he wore back in Haley's Circus. His fists clenched to try to take his distorted mind off the pain, but it didn't work. He just kept running. Then he tripped over his own feet. With a scream, he face planted onto the concrete, his face smacking into the concrete. The sea of gummy bears whelmed him, drowning him. As Robin would say, he wasn't feeling the aster.

XxXxX

Robin's screams picked back up again, louder this time. That's what had almost caused Batman to crack. He felt tears swarming in his dark eyes, but he couldn't cry yet. He had to arrest the Joker. He couldn't save Robin. He couldn't save Robin. The thought just kept going through his mind, fueling his anger. In fact, he wasn't in control of his actions. Just as Kurt would've said: _I could see it all happening, but I couldn't stop myself. It vas like a bad dream. _That's sort of what it was.

Yes, it all had to be a bad dream. It all had to be a nightmare. Batman would just wake up, and Robin would still be the nine year old boy he adopted. Robin would still be the boy with the scared blue eyes, the dyed black hair and the immense love for chocolate milk. He'd be the little boy who began to experiment with words and question their use. He questioned everything he heard and Robin-ified it, so to speak. But to get out of this nightmare, Batman had to get rid of the Joker. The Joker was the reason he was asleep, obviously. So if the Joker left, then Batman and Robin would wake up from this horrible dream and everything would be okay.

The Joker seemed to be stalling time though. He merrily would skip out of Batman's anger's grasp, giggling like the mad man he was. He had practically forgotten that he was supposed to be fighting and just kept entertaining himself. He considered gassing Batman with his infamous laughing gas, but he thought that Robin's shrieks and sobs were torture enough for the enraged Bat, who continued to flap around. The Joker laughed as he thought, just for a second, that maybe Batman had also lost his mind and had joined him in his delusion. The idea was scratched off quickly.

A choking noise came from Robin's throat and his body convulsed violently as he struggled under invisible pressures. That only deepened Batman's delusion. He charged at the Joker, tears finally escaping his dark eyes, but being absorbed by the inside of his mask. He landed a few good punches on the Joker before the Joker decided to bring out a few weapons for his own use. They were simple of course, as they always were. But that didn't stop them from being intricate all at the same time.

His plan was only to wound Batman, make him stop where he was. He didn't want Batman to lose consciousness. Where's the fun in that?

XxXxX

Robin staggered to his feet, sobs and blood both dripping from his mouth, in a race to hit the concrete. He panted heavily, setting his hands on his knees, weakly standing, exhausted. His body shook violently from his sobs and he was still coughing up the gummy bear arms and legs that had gotten shoved down his throat. Now he really wished for his utility belt. Maybe, just after one bat bomb, he could see his Mom and Dad again. They'd probably be waiting for him with open arms.

Just the thought made his tears fall harder. He was surprised that he hadn't drowned the gummy bears yet, between his blood and tears. The second he half recovered, he started running again. He had to get out. He needed to get out. He wouldn't be able to handle much more. Then, just as suddenly as he had lost hope, he regained it. There was an opening ahead. He ran fast as he could without feeling like his bones were snapping like before. He didn't have time before the blood thirsty beasts reformed and came back after him. He had to get away.

Robin's blood stained his pathway down the concrete hall until he finally exited out of the opening. His heart plummeted as he saw it was a dead end. It was just a trapeze room with no exits. He was doomed. He was going to die. Robin ran to the trapeze tower, hopeless. He just kept climbing the ladder, surprised he could hold on to the rungs. He half hoped that he'd lose his grip and fall, dying as he hit the ground. He reached the platform and collapsed weakly on it. His vision began to blur and he accepted that he was screwed. He wasn't going to make it. He clenched his fists tightly and watched as the gummy bears came out of the opening.

It wasn't just the red ones this time. The oranges, yellows, greens, blues and clears were all right behind them, just as blood thirsty. Robin felt all hope collapse inside of him, like a person playing a game with Jigsaw. There was no hope left in his body. Sobs fell harder from his body as he finally accepted defeat. He stood up weakly and leaned against the post. He knew what he had to do. He sat there and slowly unwound the bloody bandages on his forearms and tossed them down to the concrete floor beneath him. The gummy bears swarmed for them, just like he thought.

"Wally, Megan, Superboy, Kaldur… I'm so sorry for not telling you anything. I'm so sorry that I've been such an asshole… Batman, sorry for being such a bad 'son'. Thanks for being there for me… I'm coming Momma, I'm coming Daddy."

With that he stumbled forward to the edge of the platform and eyed all the blood thirsty creatures beneath him, roaring in hunger. His final tears escaped from his eyes.

"Fine. YOU WIN! YOU STUPID… [Forgive my language] FUCKING ANIMALS! Are you happy? Well, it's dinnertime!"

And with those final words, Robin took a deep breath and jumped.

XxXxX

Robin's body jolted once and stopped moving. He stopped sobbing. He stopped screaming. He fell silent. Batman and the Joker both noticed. The Joker laughed long and hard, happy.

"I win Batman!" he shrieked happily. "I win!"

Now sobs fell from Batman's eyes. This wasn't possible. Robin had… Robin had given up? He had left Batman for good. Now, Batman was alone. But the thing that actually caused his true freak out was the fact that there was a small, blood soaked smile on Robin's lips. His hands had unclenched and he was happy.

**Oh yes, I am evil. Hate me, love me, but this ain't over. And before you yell at me, why would I kill Robin? I'm actually in a really good mood. So, before you scream at me for killing him, read this, calm down, and review nicely. IF YOU FLAME, I WON'T UPDATE TOMORROW. Or, IF I GET TOO MANY FLAMES, I WON'T UPDATE FOR A WEEK. Oh yes, I went there. So play nice kitties and I will update quickly. **

_**L-O-V-E is just another word I'll never learn to pronounce.**_

**-FJ3**


	19. Chapter 19

**You all followed my orders. Not a single flame that I could sense. So I decided to try to please you all once again. Like I said: **_**try**_**. I won't kill off Robin… yet… (: Heh, I ist evil!**

Wally froze in his seat and set a hand to his pounding head. Deep inside, he could sense something was wrong. It was one of those feelings you got at the pit of your stomach that told you something was going to be all jacked up that day. It was almost an empty feeling and he knew in an instant that something really bad was happening. He looked around, but the others didn't notice. Or if they did, they were just hiding it really well.

"Excuse me," he muttered softly and got up from his chair.

The others took no notice as he left the room and headed to his room to pick up his communicator. Once he grabbed it, he immediately called Robin. The communicator rang, and rang, and rang, but Robin never answered. Wally frowned and set down his communicator again, frowning to himself.

"Hope you're okay Robin…" he told the communicator.

And for a brief second, he almost felt bad for potentially ruining Robin's life by telling the team about it. But it was just brief.

XxXxX

"_Wake up! Robin please! Please wake up! Open your eyes! My God, please don't be dead!" _a familiar voice pleaded in Robin's ears.

He fought to open his eyes. When he did, he nearly gasped. He saw Wally leaning over him, concern in the red head's eyes. Robin blinked softly and looked around.

"W-Wh-Where?" he choked out weakly.

"You're up here, away from those stupid gummy bears," Wally explained, taking a glance down at the still swarming sea of bears.

Robin made an attempt to sit down, but Wally set a hand on his chest, forcing him to stay lying down. Robin only attempted once to sit up, but he stopped after that. His body hurt too much to argue. He had to guess that he had bitten through his tongue, just a little even, because he tasted blood in his mouth. He hoped that was why he tasted blood and not something too serious.

"H-How…" Robin lifted his head weakly to cough hard for what seemed like forever.

It made his chest sting to cough as hard as he did, but he couldn't stop himself. Wally's smiled faded and he looked scared for a fraction of a second. He decided against his earlier judgment and quickly sat Robin up. That seemed to help just a little bit, but not by a whole lot. Once Robin could, he gulped in a few breaths of air before attempting to talk again.

"H-How did… you know… I-I n-needed… help?" he choked out.

His voice was weak, but the red head understood. He patted Robin on the back a few times before replying.

"You called for help earlier dude. The others are on their way, but they're all kind of busy, so I'm going to buy some time until then. Besides, would I let you die?" Wally joked.

"Yes," Robin smiled softly.

His body stung and ached. He couldn't remember how he was alive though. Last he remembered, he crashed into the concrete and the gummy bears began to tear into his flesh before he lost all consciousness entirely. He just wished he wouldn't be here. Wally rolled his eyes.

"Of course, typical Robin. On a scale of one to ten, how much pain are you in?"

Robin hesitated. He closed his eyes and felt every inch of pain his body, rating it. In his mind, he didn't even question why Wally wanted to know. Then he decided.

"Seven," he decided, but then began to cough again, sending an even worse migraine to his head. "Ten."

Robin forced his body to lie back down and he closed his eyes tight, wishing he could block out the growls and cries of the gummy bears. He could feel every bite, every tooth mark, and every blood droplet. Wally frowned at his friend's pain.

"Well, I'm going to go take out some of those gummy bears. I'll be back. Any tips?"

"A-Avoid… Avoid the red… they… they are the… only ones that… attack…" Robin told him.

Wally frowned. "What about the other colors?"

"They… they eat the… red…" he coughed again.

"Hmm… cannibalism? Coolness," he laughed.

Robin nodded weakly, straining to hold back another cough. Wally frowned, but shrugged it off, thinking of a strategy. But being unable to, he just decided to trample them all, maybe picking up a few pieces to eat. So that's what he did. He simply jumped from the platform and literally hit the ground running.

XxXxX

Robin's body shuddered and vicious coughs racked his body. No one noticed though. The hall he lay in was empty, as it had been for many minutes now. No one noticed the small thirteen year old struggle with inner demons and troubles that none other could see. In fact, Batman and Robin, the two earlier combatants, were nowhere to be seen. The only sign they might've been there earlier was the blood scattered across the floor and the fact that the closed door had a huge chunk taken out of it.

Had the Joker been defeated by the mass that had consumed Batman? No, he had not. Had Batman been defeated by the huge source of anger that overcame him? No, he had not. So, where were the two familiar enemies? They had indeed taken the battle outside. So Robin's body was left alone and abandoned, just as he had almost been four years earlier. It was different this year though. This time, it was Robin's body on the ground, not his parents'. And Robin wasn't dead… yet.

XxXxX

Wally shook his best friend, scared.

"Come on! You have to stay awake!" he ordered, trying to sound more angry than scared.

"C-C… Can't… Lemme sleep," Robin mumbled, weakly pushing Wally away.

He closed his eyes tightly. Wally took a glance at the still endless sea of gummy bears that seemed to stretch on forever. He had taken out at least a hundred or more with his feet and had eaten a few of them. Why were there still so many? And why the hell was candy attacking him? Wally lay down beside his best friend, closing his eyes too.

"Hey Robin…"

"Hmm?" the boy asked halfway.

"Remember the time we went to the Carnival with Kaldur and he puked on the Ferris Wheel?" Wally asked with a grin.

Robin swallowed hard before answering.

"N-No…"

"That's because it never happened. Just checking your memory bro," Wally laughed weakly.

Robin considered slug-bug punching Wally for that, but his arm hurt too much and he didn't want to bother. He just smiled.

"A-And… um… what about the time we… ya know… met the Canary?" Wally asked.

"Yeah… y-you… you flirted with a… teacher and got… served," Robin laughed weakly

"You have to admit bro, she was pretty hot," Wally laughed.

Robin nodded weakly, coughing hard again.

"Y-Yeah… I guess…"

Wally was just glad Robin could talk somewhat. He just wished Superboy would show up and squash 'em all flat with a single punch.

"D-Dude... I-I'm… I'm hungry," Robin told Wally without even glancing at his friend.

Wally smiled without thinking.

"You want some gummy bears?" he joked.

Robin nodded. "Uh huh… I want… blue…"

Wally rolled his eyes.

"Alright, go get it then."

Robin shook his head weakly.

"I don't wanna… Y-You… you gotta," he smiled.

Wally couldn't help but notice how drunk Robin's words sounded. He knew it was just because Robin was fighting off coughs, but he sounded drunk.

"Fine, but you owe me," Wally stuck out his tongue at the boy.

Robin nodded before coughing yet again. He was really hungry. Wally simply tore through the crowd of gummy bears, stepping over rows of teeth before grabbing up a blue gummy bear and a green one in two opposite hands, ripping off their heads, and tearing up the ladder of the platform before getting back to Robin. He handed Robin the body of the blue gummy bear while feasting on the green one. He avoided the bits of red gummy flesh in its stomach though.

Robin didn't eat as swiftly. He gently tore off a piece and set it in his mouth and chewed slowly. He loved the taste of the gummy flesh, but he truly loved the thought of eating the stupid things that ate him. The skin was sweet and beautiful to the taste. Robin felt murderous, but right now, he truly didn't give two shits. He was hungry and the murderous creature tasted really good to his taste buds.

XxXxX

"So, where is Robin anyway?" Megan asked curiously.

"I dunno, he's off with Batman and isn't answering his communicator. I'm seriously worried for him," Wally halfway explained, running a hand through his hair.

"I can call the League and ask them if you want," Kaldur offered.

Wally nodded. "Yeah… I think something's wrong…"

Superman shot Wally a confused look, but he said nothing. And with that, everyone left the room, everything they just learned about Robin still fresh in their minds, intensifying their worry just that much more.

**Okay, call me crazy, but I'm trying to make Wally look like a good guy. Sorry if I confuzzled ya!**

**-FJ3**


	20. Chapter 20

**So yeah, last chapter, ending. Whoo hoo! Sorry about that… Warn ya, the ending sucks… **

Wally took a glance at his watch and sighed, collapsing on the couch again. He glanced over at Superboy who had come out of hiding to somewhat join the 'family'.

"It's been 24 hours," he said, "Why isn't he awake yet?"

The red head was on edge and upset, as he had been sense Batman had brought word about the sleeping beauty. To make it worse, Robin wasn't even at Mount Justice. In fact, Wally wasn't even really sure where Robin was. All he knew was that he was with Batman.

"Batman said it was a sleeping drug of some sort," Superboy replied simply.

Wally frowned harder.

"I know! But… But Batman's a genius and he would be able to find a cure. Why hasn't he woken Robin up yet?" anger laced Wally's voice, hiding his guilt and sorrow.

Superboy shrugged. "Don't ask me, I'm not Batman."

Wally opened his mouth to yell at the clone, but he shut it again and sighed.

"I… Yeah, I know you aren't…"

He sprung from the couch and walked back into the kitchen and began to retrace his pace cycle. He'd go to the kitchen, look for food and be too angry to eat anything. He would then sit down at the kitchen table for a few minutes, deep in thought. But then he'd get too angry to be sitting and he'd get up again. Then Wally would wander down into his room and collapse onto his own bed. He'd stare at the ceiling for who knows how long. Then, he'd grab his Nintendo DS and play two or three levels of his Mario game.

After losing all lives, he'd get mad, slam the DS down on the bed and storm over to his computer where he'd once again search the Internet for something even halfway amusing. Then the red head would play a game or two on NotDoppler until it frustrated him. He'd exit out and leave his room again and pass slowly by Robin's, glancing in but being too… well, not afraid, but not shy… to enter the room. Then he'd pick up his communicator and call Batman again. That's how it had been sense Wally had learned that Robin was stuck asleep and everyone imagined it would stretch on until the boy woke up.

XxXxX

Robin's screams had stopped when they had gotten back home, but he still mumbled and looked like he was in some intense pain. He would occasionally moan and/or groan in pain and he'd shudder and shiver beneath the covers and sheets of his old bed. Batman didn't know what else to do besides keep Robin bedridden and to check on him a lot. For now, he just had a cold wash cloth on Robin's forehead.

He couldn't trust what the Joker said. He'd probably poisoned Robin with something that was incurable and undetectable, but Batman couldn't tell. He had run every test imaginable over Robin's slumbering body, but there was nothing wrong with Robin. He just seemed to be fast asleep. The only thing saying that he wasn't asleep was the fact that his whole brain was active, as if he was fully conscious and moving around instead of just asleep. His pulse was quicker and his eyes danced furiously beneath his eyelids, but he was asleep and that's that.

Batman sat beside Robin again and removed the washcloth, holding it in one hand. He set a hand on Robin's forehead, feeling and hoping desperately to feel a fever, but there was none. Batman closed his eyes angrily. He wished he could help Robin, but this was his silent epidemic and only he could conquer it. He patted Robin's pale hand gently.

"Be strong Robin," he said, his voice soft. "I have faith in you."

A soft smile crossed Robin's lips, but Batman knew that Robin couldn't hear him. Robin was stuck up in his own head, listening to those inside of it that only he could hear. He just hoped when Robin woke up that he wouldn't ask about the Joker. Batman knew, deep down inside, that Robin wouldn't be able to handle the answer. Batman got up to rewet the wash cloth and make it cold. He heard his communicator go off before that. He sighed, slipped on his Batman mask and answered it. Just as he thought, it was the Flash's nephew.

"He's okay. He's still asleep."

"_No! He can't be! Wake him up!"_

"I've tried," Batman said, swallowing his anger. "It's not your normal sleep, like I've already told you. When he wakes up, I'll be sure to call you back right away. Please stop calling."

"_But-, but what if something happens to him?"_

"I'm checking on him every few minutes. Now, if you'll excuse me," Batman cut the connection and set his mask down beside the bathroom sink.

He held the washcloth under the faucet he had just turned on, letting the water turn cold and made the washcloth cold again. He rang it out so it wasn't dripping wet and brought it back into Robin's bedroom. Robin lay still on the bed and he looked weak and exhausted. He looked so helpless there, beneath the green covers that hadn't been occupied in a while. Bruce sighed and laid the washcloth over Robin's forehead. Robin winced suddenly under the cold, and for a brief second, Batman had the hope that Robin would wake up.

Robin didn't though. His body relaxed again and he began to mutter beneath his breath. Bruce felt his heart plummet to the depth of what felt like his empty chest and it shattered into millions of irreplaceable shards. He frowned, as he usually did, but this frown was different. He sighed.

"Robin… Richard… Dick… whoever you decide you want to be… you need to wake up. You have us all worried…" Batman spoke aloud.

He had never found it easy to speak his mind to the boy he adopted four long years ago, but now was a time to attempt to try if anything. Maybe when Alfred got home and Robin woke up, they could go out to eat or have a fancy meal. Or, if it's what Robin really wanted, they could go and eat out at that Pizza Place he used to mention all the time. If only he could remember its name…

XxXxX

"Drop it," Robin ordered, a hand pressed to his cold feeling forehead.

"Why? You know it's true! That's why you aren't denying it," Wally laughed, scanning the openings, waiting for the others to show up.

"I deny it! I deny it! I frikkin deny it!" he cried, feeling much stronger.

It must've been something in the gummy bears that lit his fuel, but it didn't matter. He just wished he had his cape to cover up his outfit.

"Too late youngling," Wally smirked mischievously. "Besides, you know you feel all sexy in that spandex of yours!"

"It's not spandex!" Robin cried, now completely ashamed of his once loved, blood stained circus uniform.

It was stretchy, it was green and brightly colored, but it wasn't spandex! Well… it might've been, but Robin wasn't going to admit that. Wally just smiled to himself. Then they heard it. It was sudden and without warning. All of the gummy bears dropped to their knees, clutching their heads. Robin clutched his stomach painfully, moaning. Wally did the same. The bears were screaming in high pitch waves, just as the two teenage boys wanted to up on the platform.

The explanation flew in, her cape fluttering behind her. Then, running in after Megan was Superboy, who with a wave of his hand took out several of the suffering bears. One might say that it was unfair because the bears were disabled as they were attacked, but who cares? They're just gummy bears! Then behind him came Kaldur, the electrifying water whips from his back already in his hands, tearing down rows of bears with a single crack.

Robin and Wally might've been somewhat thankful once Megan stopped her sonic mind blasts, but for now, they were in pain, their bodies being damaged only because of the damaged bodies they had eaten. But one by one, as the gummy bears faded, Megan loosened the blasts and before long, they stopped and the room was empty. Robin sat up weakly, still clutching his stomach. Wally got to his feet weakly, setting a hand to his head. He wouldn't admit that he was in pain though, he was much too proud for that.

Then Robin noticed something. "We won."

Wally nodded. "Yeah, I guess… why?"

Robin just grinned, because somehow, he just knew, that all of this was over. He laughed happily.

"It's over!" he cheered, ecstatic.

Wally raised an eyebrow. "Uh… yeah… I-I… uh huh…"

Then all Robin saw was light. It was a tunnel almost and he just knew, if he followed that tunnel to the end, he'd be home.

XxXxX

Robin sat up quickly, the washcloth flying from his head. Bruce jumped in surprise, happy to see that Sleeping Beauty had finally awoken. Robin grinned and looked down from his arms to his chest to his legs, which he had all exposed by pulling away the covers. When he saw that he was wearing his Robin costume, he laughed happily. It got better and better as he noticed that he wasn't injured. He turned to Batman.

"It wasn't real!" he laughed again in relief.

Batman smiled.

"Yeah, it wasn't. You wanna go out to eat?"

Robin nodded and practically sprang from his bed.

"First, I need to get into my civvies."

Batman had to shield his eyes as Robin changed as fast as his hands could move. Batman was happy to see the boy's enthusiasm. It was beautiful to him.

"I'm decent," Robin smiled in Batman's direction and he uncovered his eyes.

Robin ran up to join Batman, following him out the door like a duckling follows its Momma.

"So, sense I'm here, does that mean that we won the battle? Does that mean the Joker's behind bars?" Robin asked, curiously.

Batman was glad Robin couldn't see his face.

"Yeah, we arrested him and sent him back to Arkham Asylum," Batman lied.

Robin laughed and did a strange little victory dance. It depressened Batman to lie to Robin, but he wanted to keep Robin happy. Well, that's what he thought. Robin knew it was a lie though. He wasn't stupid. He knew that there was no way anyone could keep the Joker behind any walls. But for now, he didn't care. He still wanted young revenge, and pizza, but most of all, the only thing he craved for now, besides pizza, was Young Justice.

**Ah, I know! HORRIBLE ENDING! *Sobs* But he's awake, happy ending? No, of course not. It's over, fin, the end, that's all folks. Love ya'll and thanks for reading!**

**-THE END-**

**-FrankandJoe3**


	21. Alternate Ending

**You guys flame me, I flame you back. THIS IS REVENGE OF THE AUTHOR. And yes, you all know who you are. I'm sensitive, and now I'm close to tears and heartbroken, so FEEL MY FUCKING WRATH! Oh by the way, nice people, this is sad, so maybe don't read it?**

Batman ran back into the hall, the Joker right behind him.

"Why are you running Battie?" the Joker giggled, firing off another shot of acid and missing by a long shot.

The acid sank and burnt through the floor, melting it away to pieces. Batman wasn't going to run away. He just needed to buy time until the Justice League showed up. He had already called them. He didn't want Robin to think he was too weak to stop this mad man.

"What's your deal Joker? Do you get a kick out of hurting people?" Batman stalled, taking a glance down at Robin who was writhing on the floor in pain.

He screamed, sobs falling from his body just as hard as he was trapped in a silent epidemic to be fought by no one but himself.

"Not all people Battie," the Joker laughed, opening his jacket.

He began to search through the pockets for something.

"Just you mostly," he tossed a pie aside, along with a suspicious looking bag of popcorn, a triangle piranha filled fish bowl and a water balloon that caused the floor to explode behind him.

"Why don't you like me?" Batman asked, curious.

His eyes kept straying to the door. He wished that they'd hurry. He needed back up, fast.

"Oh I don't know… don't take it personal…" the Joker began, focused on finding something in particular within his pockets. "Maybe it's how you never smile… or how you're voice is too low?"

The Joker laughed at the thought. Batman was surprised. He never smiled? But the Joker never got to finish. He instead pulled out a turkey baster, comically sized, full of glowing green slime. Batman eyed it nervously. Whatever it was, it didn't look human. Once again, the Joker wasn't pleased with this item though. Instead, he just squirted out the green slime towards Batman, not even seeming to mean it. Batman dodged out of its way, forgetting who was behind him that couldn't move.

The slime hit the floor, barely a centimeter from Robin's head. It quickly ate through the floor and took out everything in its path. Not a single squirt hit Robin. One hit his cape and ate through a section of that, but none of it touched him personally. It did seem to circle him though, eating away at the floor on his left side, the closest to Batman and the Joker. Batman took no notice though. His mind was on the back-up. The Joker noticed though and smiled. Batman didn't take a notice to his defenseless partner? He could use that to his advantage, surely he could!

So he continued to fish around in his pockets and Batman stayed far away, fearful for what he hid in the pockets. Then, thrown his way was a cyanide pie, an empty fish bowl, a fork, a rubber ducky with a strangely shaped mouth and a roll of duct tape. The pie hit the ground beside Robin's feet, but Cyanide wouldn't poison him unless it was inhaled or ingested. The fish bowl shattered at Batman's feet, but the glass shards were harmless. The fork was deflected by Batman with a move of the hand. The roll of duct tape hit Robin in the stomach, but did nothing to him.

Batman thought the Joker was aiming for him, because most of the objects almost hit him, were aimed his way or did hit him. He thought Robin was across the room, a few pillars away, not behind him. As for the rubber ducky, that was the killer. The second it hit the ground, something happened. Its mouth widened and it let out an ear splitting sound that tore through the air without end. Batman dropped to his knees, clutching what would soon be his bleeding ears. But Robin, Robin couldn't cover his ears. Robin was unconscious and stuck. So his ears began to bleed first, with no one noticing. Even the Joker was on the ground, covering his ears. His laugh blocked out a lot of the sound too though.

But it wasn't just sound that came from the duck. The duck was aimed Robin's way by some twist of fate and it let of huge sonic waves. The sound got louder and louder to his ears only. Batman and the Joker heard loud noise, but not near as loud as Robin heard. The noise rocketed. 135 decibels… 150 decibels… 175 decibels… and then it finally stopped at the lethal 200 decibels.

200 decibels is loud enough to kill you. It will rupture your lungs or cause a heart attack, but usually, it's both. Robin wasn't the lucky one. The 200 decibels caused his lungs to rupture and he couldn't breathe. To put it simply, one of the Dynamic Duo, The Boy Wonder, Robin, The Last Flying Grayson, died because of sound. His heart just stopped beating where it was and he lay still again.

XxXxX

Robin froze. Everything was getting brighter. He had to shield his eyes weakly.

"Wh-What's happening?" he asked, confused.

He looked around. Everything around him was being engulfed in light. The concrete halls, the gummy bears, even him. And suddenly, he had the urge to start walking forward. So that's what he did. He kept walking towards the brightest of the light, trying as hard as he could to watch where he was going, despite how bright it was. Then he saw something cut off the light briefly. It was a silhouette… No, it was two. They walked towards him and Robin recognized them. Tears came to his eyes as he recognized his Mom and Dad, both of their bodies intact and big smiles on their faces. Tears ran from their eyes.

Robin ran forward, tears flying from his face and leapt into their arms.

"Momma! Daddy!" he sobbed, happily.

They held him tight, just as happy as he. Then they set him down and took his hands in their own. They felt warm and bright. They felt at peace.

"Where are we going?" Robin asked, tears falling heavily from his bright blue eyes.

He wasn't going to hide anymore. He knew he fit in now. He had nothing left to hide anymore. He could feel it deep within.

"We're going up to Heaven sweetie," his Mom told him, a soft halo of light brighter than the rest surrounding her head.

Robin noticed a matching one around his Father's head.

"Will I get a halo too?" he asked, curiously.

His Mom nodded. "Yes Richard; and you'll get wings and you'll get to meet the rest of the angels. You're going to love it."

Richard's Dad nodded. "Everyone fits in here. It's perfect."

And Robin knew that was just what it was going to be.

XxXxX

Batman stood over his son's grave, tears still falling from his hidden eyes.

_Richard John Grayson_

_1996-2011_

_The Little Robin who Finally Learned How to Fly_

Atop Richard's grave sat a little stone bird, its eyes as happy and bright as Richard's might've been one day. Beside it stood two other tall birds, one female and one male. Batman knelt at Richard's grave and set Robin's mask gently on top of the flowers that had been set there earlier. He didn't wipe away his tears as he wanted to, because he knew he was the last one there. The others had left hours ago. Why had he remained?

_I guess I just don't know how to say good bye_ he admitted to himself.

He looked up into the sky, right up where he imagined Heaven was, and managed a shaky smile.

"I'm going to miss you Richard. You belong there though, not here."

Then something caught Batman's eye in the tree nearby. A little Robin sat on the branch, staring down at him curiously. Batman's smile remained and he felt his heart lighten. And with that, he got up and left, knowing that Robin was finally happy.

**See, told ya I could be cruel. And to tell you the truth, I like this better then my original ending. ): So yes, still fuck you all who got mad at me, but if you hated the earlier one, I hope you cried at this one. **

**But those of you that were nice, sorry for upsetting you. **

**-Fin-**

**-A Woman Scorned**


End file.
